


Gency Pregnancy and Domesticity Prompts

by NiteWrighter



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Multi, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2018-10-07 16:02:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 26,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10364256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiteWrighter/pseuds/NiteWrighter
Summary: Decided to make a separate work for the Gency Pregnancy prompts I've been receiving on tumblr for reasons.





	1. Doctor Z's Pregnant.

Mercy was leaning on the bathroom counter, holding her phone to her ear and trying not to glance down at the test next to her.

“Well, it’s definitely a positive,” Doctor Haberlin said on the other end of the phone.

“But the subject was undergoing sustained biotic treatment— _years_ of biotic treatment,” said Mercy, “That couldn’t ring in a false positive?”

“Doctor Ziegler—you were one of the leading minds behind biotic development–You know biotics don’t generate spontaneous hCG production, and judging by the subject’s age there’s no reason why they would start now aside from the obvious. By the looks of these test results they’re probably… well I’d give them four weeks along at this point?”

“Four weeks,” Mercy just repeated the words dumbly after Doctor Haberlin.

“ _Ja!_ Tell the subject congratulations for me,” said Haberlin.

“Thank you,” Mercy said hollowly.

“What?”

“I mean—thank you for the test results,” said Mercy, “Always glad to have a second opinion.”

Mercy ended the call and rubbed her forehead and glanced down at the test, picked it up and looked at it again. So…this was happening. She took a calming inward breath, then felt eyes on her. She turned to see Hana Song standing stone-still in the bathroom doorway, a pink gum bubble on her lips. She dropped the test and it clattered into the sink. Both stared at each other for a few seconds.

“…How much did you hear?” said Mercy, straightening up.

D.Va’s bubble popped and she perked up as if snapping out of a trance. “How much did I–? Nothing. Nope. I didn’t hear anything. Was I supposed to—Were you on the phone just now because I didn’t hear—”

“Hana,” Mercy said flatly.

“You’re pregnant,” said D.Va, and then she repeated it to herself as if it didn’t sound real, “You’re _pregnant._ ”

Mercy cleared her throat and drew herself up to her full height, attempting to remain as composed as possible. “Yes,” she said.

“Is it Genji’s?” said D.Va.

“Wh–of course it’s Genji’s! Why wouldn’t it be Genji’s?” said Mercy.

D.Va shrugged. “Honestly I was never sure if he had a–”

“Never mind,” Mercy cut her off.

D.Va leaned against the bathroom counter, “Wow…” she said, “So what did Genji say?”

Mercy folded her arms, “He…” she exhaled, “He doesn’t know yet.”

D.Va gasped, then coughed, then swallowed hard. “Sorry, I inhaled my gum,” she said, clearing her throat, before resuming her previous shock, “He doesn’t know!?”

“He’s on a mission and I only got it confirmed just now!” said Mercy, “It’s not like I can just call him up and be like, ‘Oh hello, Genji, I know you’re busy with the mission, but I thought I should just let you know I’m carrying your child! Okay! Don’t get distracted! _Ich liib dich!_ ’” She then mimed hanging up a phone.

D.Va snorted but then her eyes widened, “Wait–so _I’m_ the first person who knows?!”

“…by complete accident,” said Mercy.

“Woah…” said D.Va.

“And I would really appreciate it if we kept this between us for the time being,” said Mercy.

“You got it, Doc,”said D.Va, saluting, “I’m a steel trap. I didn’t hear a thing. I’m not going to–I just remembered I came in here because I really had to pee and got sidetracked by this pregnancy thing so hold that thought.” D.Va quickly stepped into one of the stalls and shut the door and exhaled. Mercy sighed and glanced down at the pregnancy test in the sink. She wondered if she should throw it away. She knew some people kept them for sentimental reasons but it struck her as sort of unsanitary.

“So,” D.Va spoke from inside the stall, “If it’s Genji’s… is it going to be… part cyborg or something?”

“We didn’t alter any genes with his cyberization, so no,” said Mercy.

“What about like, a biotic superbaby?”

“That’s ridic—” Mercy started and then paused, “Actually, I’m not sure.”

 The toilet flushed and D.Va stepped out of the stall and washed her hands, “Oh man, Hanzo’s going to _flip_ when he finds out,” she said, glancing up.

“Which is why we’re keeping this between us until Genji gets back,” said Mercy.

“Gotcha,” said D.Va. 

–

Several hours later, Mercy and D.Va were seated on the same couch in the Watchpoint’s lounge. Mercy was leafing through some patient files on her tablet while D.Va busied herself with a handheld game, when D.Va suddenly sat bolt upright.

“What about the dragons?” she said.

Mercy glanced up. “What?” 

“What about the dragons!?” D.Va asked urgently, “The baby’s going to be a Shimada so what if it summons a dragon and then the dragon just— _pwooooar–”_ Diva mimicked an explosion out of her stomach with her hands, _“_ Bursts out of your stomach like in the old Sci-Fi movies?”

Mercy glanced up at D.Va from her tablet and stared at her for several seconds before saying, “…I highly doubt that could happen.”

“What’s bursting out of Doctor Z’s stomach now?” said Lúcio, walking into the room and pulling his headphones off.

“Nothing!” D.Va said before winking at Mercy. Lúcio looked between them, somewhat unconvinced.

“Okay…?” he said slowly.

“Doctor Z’s pregnant,” D.Va blurted out.

“Hana!” Mercy said sharply.

“Sorry!” said D.Va, rubbing the back of her neck, “I can’t _lie_ to him. _Look_ at him!”

“Look, it’s fine,” said Lúcio, leaning against the couch, “Just uh… congratulations and… you don’t need to worry about me saying anything?” He scoffed a little, “Hanzo’s going to flip, though,” he said, snickering.

“That’s what I said!” said D.Va.

“And that is why I said we need to be discreet about this, but you immediately told Lúcio and—ugh,” Mercy pinched the bridge of her nose, “I would just appreciate if half the Watchpoint didn’t find out about this before the father.”

“You got it,” said Lúcio. A long silence passed between the three of them. “So…” Lúcio glanced up at Mercy, “How are you holding up?”

“I feel fine,” said Mercy with a shrug.

“Pretty big deal,” said Lúcio.

“Yeah…” Mercy said with a slight laugh in her voice. She ran a hand through her her hair then hugged herself a little, “It doesn’t feel real yet.” She bit the inside of her lip, “I feel silly for saying this but… between losing my parents and Overwatch falling, I lost two families in my life.” her hug of herself tightened slightly, “What I have now, it feels fragile, like it can be taken away at any moment—and it _can._ Even now Genji’s on a mission and I have no idea if he’s—” She caught herself and shook her head. She knew how easy it was for those thoughts to consume everything in her mind. 

“Hey,” D.Va reached forward and put a hand on her shoulder, “It’s like you always tell us: You’ve got this.”

“You’re gonna do great,” said Lúcio.

Mercy chuckled a little and leaned back in her seat. “Unless a dragon bursts out of me like in the old sci-fi movies,” she said, looking at D.Va with a wry grin.

“I’m just saying, we gotta be prepared,” said D.Va.

Mercy laughed.


	2. Hanzo's gonna flip.

The Orca arrived at roughly 5 AM about a day and a half later. Mercy could usually sleep through the sound of the Orca entering the Watchpoint’s airspace, but as soon as she heard the whir of the turbines she was up and out of bed and pulling on a pair of sweats and her robe and hurrying out in bare feet onto the Watchpoint’s tarmac. She shielded her eyes from the glare of the sunrise as the orca touched down and opened up. Tracer and Ana were the first ones out. Tracer saluted and Ana nodded to her, both with a visible weariness as they made their way over to either dining hall for breakfast or the dormitories for another couple hours of sleep that weren’t uncomfortably tucked around the Orca. McCree followed after with a yawn and a tip of his hat to her, going toward the dormitories himself. Then out came Reinhardt and Torbjörn, Reinhardt out of his armor and rolling his shoulders with multiple pops and cracks as Torbjörn muttered about tweaking some turret designs in a half-asleep haze. They greeted her politely enough as they walked past. Mercy paused and there was a brief feeling of dread that gripped her insides until she calmed herself, mentally reminding herself that if anything happened, someone would have said something.

 The rest of the team was all but off of the tarmac when Mercy glanced up to the door of the Orca to see Genji there, one hand on the doorway, looking down at her with some confusion. Usually she would be catching every second of sleep she could but instead she was bounding up to him and then whipping her arms around him tight. He was stunned for half a second, then returned the embrace, then she broke out of it briefly and told him. He paused, asked her to repeat herself, and she told him again. His visor brightened, then he wrapped his arms around her and hoisted her up off her feet and into a twirl, laughing. Then they were both fumbling at the catch on the back of his helmet until one of them managed to click it and Genji managed to get his faceplate off. Then she kissed him. And she kissed him again. And he kissed her until finally he finally broke away for a breath and held her tight.

—

They didn’t tell anyone for the next few days. Lúcio and D.Va were, miraculously, able to keep their mouths shut. Ana figured it out first without a word from anyone. Somehow Mercy wasn’t surprised at this. Ana agreed to be discreet but would smirk at Mercy in the halls, and eventually Mercy found herself in one of Reinhardt’s enormous bear hugs while he went on half in German about how happy he was for her. Zenyatta figured it out just by meditating next to Genji. Torbjörn picked up on it pretty quick (he was a father of eight himself—he could recognize these things) but didn’t say anything, only discreetly gave Mercy an antique hammer-and-peg baby toy set and wished her the best of luck. It was another several days before Mercy told McCree. He was one of the people she had known the longest in Overwatch, and had a tendency for figuring these things out on his own, but she wanted to tell him before he did so.

Hanzo was shooting arrows at a practice dummy when McCree leaned against a wall behind him and said, “Crazy, isn’t it?”

“What?” said Hanzo, firing another arrow into the dummy.

“I’m gonna be an uncle!” said McCree, “…sort of.”

Hanzo glanced over his shoulder at him. “An uncle?” he said.

McCree slapped his forehead, “What am I saying– _We’re_ gonna be uncles,” he said, pushing off the wall and giving Hanzo a punch in the arm, “Man, you’re _amazingly_ calm about this.”

“ _Amazingly calm about what?_ ” said Hanzo, gripping his bow with white knuckles.

–

Genji and Zenyatta were meditating on the Watchpoint’s observation deck when Hanzo practically kicked the door open. 

Zenyatta glanced up at Hanzo. “Peace be upo–”

“Leave us,” said Hanzo.

Zenyatta gave a glance back go Genji, who nodded to him to let him know he would be all right, and Zenyatta exited the observation deck.

Hanzo pressed his hands together in front of him and took a calming breath before speaking. “You are having a child,” he said, looking at Genji.

“Yes,” said Genji.

“Why did McCree know about this before me?!” demanded Hanzo.

Genji was unfazed. “I was going to tell you,” he said.

“When? After the gorilla? Zarya? Or perhaps after you told the beeping robot’s bird?”

 “Angela and I had not worked out a specific schedule or revelation,” said Genji with a shrug, “I was going to tell you when I figured out how to break the news properly. So you would not overreact.”

“So I would not–!” Hanzo bristled, “This is a very serious matter! You cannot handle it so…so carelessly! The fact that you would not think to tell your own brother first—!” Hanzo noticed that Genji had folded his arms patiently and was waiting for him to finish, then caught himself and cleared his throat. “I am not overreacting,” he said stiffly. He took another calming breath. “I wish you could have felt like you could come to me sooner, however… I understand why you did not.”

“You still are my family, brother,” said Genji, “You will continue to be a part of it.”

“Family is what concerns me,” said Hanzo, stepping forward and taking a seat next to Genji, “You know what a child means. You know what _your_ child means.”

Genji seemed to remain calm and composed but Hanzo noticed a twitch in his fingers.

“The Shimada clan is fallen,” said Genji.

“Broken–reabsorbed into other crime families–but never completely fallen, and desperate. You know that,” Hanzo paused and looked out over the Watchpoint, “We both know all too well what they are willing to resort to for the sake of power. If they catch word of another heir to the main branch of the Shimada line–”

“I know,” said Genji.

“If they think there is someone they can manipulate who is capable of wielding the dragons—”  

“I _know_ ,” Genji spoke with a slight edge to his voice and Hanzo glanced off.

Hanzo exhaled, then spoke at last, “You don’t want to raise your children to be crime-lords and assassins, as we were raised. I support you in that. I swear to you that the remains of the Shimada clan will burn before they lay a single hand on your family.”

Genji was quiet for a long time before finally saying, “Thank you.”

They both sat in silence, listening to the sea birds. Genji seemed to resume his meditation when Hanzo awkwardly cleared his throat. “I.. uh… I _am_ happy for you. Congratulations.” he reached over and patted Genji on the shoulder.

Genji snickered. “You’re going to be a great uncle,” he said, and Hanzo scoffed and smiled.


	3. Outside

_The kick collided with Genji just below the collarbone, the force of it knocking him off his feet and sending him tumbling across the floor. His shoulder hit first and he grunted, bounced, then slid to a stop on his side. He exhaled his pain in groaning breath, squinting his eyes shut, then he opened them to see his father and Hanzo kneeling side by side. Hanzo saw the pain in his brother’s face and moved to get to his feet, to run across the mat to him, but Sojiro placed a hand in front of him and Hanzo remained kneeling._

_“You need to learn to get up faster,” Sojiro said as Genji struggled back to his feet, “Your enemies will not wait for you.” Genji coughed and rotated his arm in its socket to make sure the hit hadn’t dislocated it but Sojiro continued. “They will show you no mercy. Your size and speed serve you well, but you cannot dodge every blow. Eventually, Sparrow, a hit will land, and you must know how to take it,” Sojiro glanced over at Genji’s instructor. “Again,” he said. The instructor bowed to Sojiro in confirmation.  
_

_Genji huffed and resumed a fighting position as the Instructor took his place across from him and assumed position as well._

_“Begin,” said Sojiro.  
_

_Genji dipped and dodged the instructors’ first few strikes easily, leapt into the air to avoid having his legs swiped out from underneath him, blocked a strike in mid-air which sent him back several feet but he landed fine. The instructor was on him again in a seconds and he was dodging and blocking, attempting to counter but only meeting with a block and counter himself. The instructor managed to get a leg swipe in and moved to strike as Genji was attempting to regain his footing. Genji moved to block the strike to his face only to be met with a full kick to the gut. A hollow half-choked noise flew out of him as he felt a rib crack and was sent flying back once again. He slammed into the wall this time and dropped down to the floor. He was curled up in pain, trying to get his breath back._

_“Father—” Genji heard Hanzo’s voice and his eyes flicked back toward them, only to see Hanzo silenced once again with one stern glance from Sojiro.  
_

_“Get up, Sparrow,” said Sojiro.  
_

_Pain had turned his limbs to jelly. He was struggling to his knees, still coughing._

_“Genji, get up,” Sojiro spoke again. Genji had to get up but his limbs didn’t seem to be listening to him, he saw his own hands shaking, his bruised blue knuckles against the white mat of the dojo._

_“Get up!” his father’s voice turned to a dragon’s roar and the world seemed to burn away from him.  
_

Genji woke with a start. 

Immediately his hand went over to the spot where he would usually find Mercy sleeping, but instead it was empty. He remembered Hanzo’s words to him about the Shimada clan several weeks earlier and panic nearly gripped him, but then he heard the sound of Mercy dry heaving in the bathroom and felt some slight relief… until he realized Mercy was dry heaving in the bathroom. He quickly rushed in and helped hold her hair back as she puked into the toilet. When she seemed to be finished,  she exhaled hard and groaned and wiped her mouth as she pulled away from the toilet bowl, flushed, and slumped on the bathroom floor.

“Good morning,” said Genji.

“Good mor–,” Mercy gagged, held up a finger for him to give her a moment, then exhaled and managed, “Good morning.” A bitter chuckle escaped her, “It’s…probably not a good idea to kiss me right now,” she said.

Genji smiled and kissed her forehead, which was a bit clammy from the nausea. “And how are we doing this morning?” he said, helping her to her feet.

“Oh _wonderful_ ,” she said with a roll of her eyes, “My day off is off to a wonderful start.”

“We could take things easy today if you wish—” Genji started but Mercy shook her head.

 “I could use a day away from the Watchpoint,” she said, “I bet you could too,” she reached forward and touched the side of his face. Mindlessly his hand went up and held hers there, but the suddenness of the movement made her tilt her head. “Are you all right?” she said, leaning forward a bit and trying to read his face. 

Genji released her hand and itched at one of the scars on his cheek. “I–yes. Yes, I’m all right,” he said.

Mercy looked unconvinced, but wiped her mouth again and gave him a brief kiss on the cheek. “Well… let’s get ready then,” she said, smiling.

—-

The day was largely spent doing errands that they usually wouldn’t have time to do most days. Groceries, attempting to find the next gap in Mercy’s schedule for the ultrasound, buying maternity clothes, and so on. They took a welcome break at an outdoor cafe in a park. Genji found his sight continually trailing over to a nearby playground, watching as parents played with their children. 

“Okay, what is it?” said Mercy.

“Mm?” Genji broke his sight away from the playground.

“You’ve just been…going quiet at random points all day,” said Mercy, “Not your usual quiet either.”

“What do you remember of your parents?” the question sounded hollow, even to Genji.

“We’ve talked about this before. I was pretty young when I lost them,” said Mercy, folding her arms, “I have good memories of them, but… they’re pretty foggy at this point. I like to think my aunt and uncle did a decent job of raising me.”

“Mm,” Genji leaned back in his seat, continuing to watch the children on the playground. He felt Mercy’s hand go over his and glanced down.

“It’s all right, you know,” she said. He glanced over at her. “It’s strange for me too,” she said, glancing over at the playground, “I keep finding myself looking at couples and their children and just… trying to put myself in their shoes. Trying to imagine just… being normal.”

“Can you?” said Genji.

“It feels a bit alien, to be honest,” said Mercy, “But then I just think—If we were meant for anything normal, we probably wouldn’t be in Overwatch.” She squeezed his hand a little, “If I was meant for anything normal, I probably would have never met you,” she said, smiling at him.

He smiled and itched at one of his scars again. “I had not thought of it like that,” he said. They were both quiet for a while. “Have you given any more thought to names yet?”

“Ethel is out,” said Mercy, folding her arms.

“You are never going to let me live that one down, are you?” said Genji.

“Never,” said Mercy, grinning, “What were the Japanese names you mentioned back then though? I liked them.”

“Oh–” Genji thought, “I think—” His comm suddenly rang and he picked it up. Mercy saw his face drop as he read the message. He looked at her.

“There’s been—” he started, but then sighed, “It’s Morrison. I need to go,” he said, standing up, “They’re sending a vehicle to my location.”

“It’s all right,” said Mercy. Genji kissed her then put his faceplate on.  “Don’t be too long,” she added, Genji nodded and headed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Ethel" is a reference to [this ficlet.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9767903/chapters/22569524)


	4. Reaper here

“I’m just saying, no matter what pops out, it works,” said McCree.

“We’re not naming the child ‘Jesse,’” said Genji.

“It’s a cute name though,” said McCree, “Plus you don’t have to worry about whether to give it a German or a Japanese name.”

“You can name _your_ child ‘Jesse,’” said Genji, folding his arms.

“We are not naming any of our children ‘Jesse,’” Hanzo’s voice came over the comm channel.

“Glad you’re thinkin’ ‘bout kids already, Darlin’,” said McCree, grinning.

“I’m not–You—” Hanzo blustered then caught himself, “We are not naming any of our _purely hypothetical_ and likely _never existing_ children after Jesse.”

McCree just snorted in response to this.

“I would appreciate it if you people used the comm channel for the actual mission,” Jack Morrison’s gruff voice came over the comm channel.

“All right all right,” said McCree, “Hanzo, how’s our perimeter looking?” he said.

“No unusual activity,” said Hanzo, “The interior?”

“Yeah no sign,” said McCree, tilting his hat back, “D? Zen? How are things looking out in the gardens?”

“Nothing out here,” D.Va’s voice came over the comm.

“Confirmed. All is tranquil,” said Zenyatta.

“Mei? How are things looking at you and the old man’s angle?”

Jack audibly scoffed over the comm channel.

“Night Market is all clear,” said Mei.

“Perhaps we should contact Lucheng? Tell them it was a false alarm?” said Genji.

McCree turned and looked over at Genji with raised eyebrows.

“What?” said Genji. 

“Nothin’ just… Usually you triple check everything before calling it in,” said McCree.

“We _have_ triple-checked the building,” said Genji, “And Hanzo has checked the exterior and D.Va and Zenyatta have covered the gardens and Mei and Morrison have the night market. We should not spend any more time here than necessary.”

McCree smirked, “Mr. Family Man’s anxious to get back already, huh?”

Genji scoffed. “That, or this report could be a diversion and—” The lights suddenly shut off, “ _Kuso_ ,” muttered Genji, his visor glowing in the dark.

“Looks like we’re in for a long night,” said McCree, he brought a hand up to his ear, “D, I need you and Zen to head to the Lijiang’s generator room and try and get the building’s power back on. Get ready for some company.”

“Got it,” said D.Va.

“Talon agents sighted in night market!” said Mei over the comms.

“You need backup?” said McCree.

“No! We can handle them! Stay in the control center!” said Morrison.

“Understood,” said Genji. He and McCree exchanged glances and started moving through the dark control center. Backup power kept some walkway lights and the emergency exit signs on, but aside from that the only lights were from the city just outside. They moved into another room and McCree flinched and drew his gun at a vaguely humanoid shape behind him, only to find it was one of the astronaut suits Lijiang Tower had on display. He exhaled, then there was the sound of bootsteps and Genji drew his sword. In the darkness they first made out the red glow of Talon night-vision goggles. The first burst of gunfire came and both Genji and McCree dodged off to the sides of the door. McCree hid behind one of the astronaut suits on display while Genji crouched in a corner.

“McCree,” Genji hissed from across the doorway. McCree glanced up at Genji. Genji made an outward flicking motion with his fingers in front of his visor and McCree immediately understood and nodded. They waited in the darkness. Genji dimmed the lights of his visor and heat sinks and McCree felt a bead of sweat inch his way down the back of his neck as they heard the bootsteps of Talon agents close in.

 McCree drew one of his flashbang grenades from the interior of his serape and Genji held up a hand for McCree to hold position. The first Talon agent passed through the door, red night vision goggles glowing, but didn’t think to look over his shoulder at Genji, or behind the spacesuit for McCree as he walked through. McCree gave a look to Genji but Genji shook his head. Two more Talon agents walked in the door, again, ignoring them. McCree looked to Genji but Genji shook his head again. Finally, one last Talon agent walked through the door. Genji gave McCree a single nod. McCree leapt out from behind the display and threw the flashbang grenade, rendering the four talon agents stunned. McCree fanned the hammer as Genji swept through with his wakizashi. One Talon agent managed to release a brief burst of submachine gunfire but Genji simply deflected the shots and downed him. Once again Lijiang’s control center was dark and silent.

 McCree brought a finger to his ear. “Morrison,” he said, “We just took down a contingent of Talon agents. We need to regroup at—” Genji suddenly tackled McCree from the waist as a spray of shotgun fire littered the wall right behind where McCree had been standing. McCree and Genji quickly recovered and stood back to back as a rasping chuckle seemed to fill the room like smoke.

“…shit,” said McCree.

“McCree! Status report!” Morrison barked over the comms.

Both McCree and Genji leapt out of another spray of shotgun fire.

“Reaper is here!” Genji spoke into the comms, “Repeat, Reaper is here!”

“I’m making my way to your location!” said Hanzo. 

“D.Va we need those lights now!” said McCree into his comm, reloading his peacekeeper then pointing it into the darkness. 

“Little busy at the moment!” D.Va’s voice on the comm was half-drowned out by gunfire.

With a flick of his wrist Genji had three shuriken at the ready. “We need to get out of close-quarters,” said McCree, glancing over his shoulder at Genji.

The deep chuckle sounded again, “All this time and you still don’t know what you’re doing,” a voice spoke.

McCree instinctively pulled back the hammer on the peacekeeper at the sound of Reaper’s voice but was virtually blind in the darkness as he and Genji attempted to move out into a more open area

“Don’t know where to look, cowboy?” Reaper’s voice bounced off the walls, nearly impossible to tell the source.

“Hell, I’d hide in the dark too if I was as ugly as you,” said McCree. There was a flash of gunfire and both Genji and McCree leapt out of the way of it and McCree threw another flashbang grenade in the direction of the fire as he rolled and regained his footing. Reaper covered his face as the flashbang burst. Genji and McCree raced past him, both firing and throwing shuriken at him, but both their attacks phasing through him like smoke. Reaper returned fire only to hear their footsteps fall away from him into Lijiang Tower’s cavernous satellite monitoring room. Reaper half-scoffed half snarled and headed down the stairs into the room, where both McCree and Genji were hiding behind one of the massive walls of monitors that, had the power of the building been on. Genji glanced over at McCree and made the same outward flicking motion he had done earlier and McCree nodded. They listened for the sound of his footsteps closing in. As soon as Reaper rounded the corner McCree threw a flashbang grenade.

“ _Ryūjin no ken wo kurae!”_ Genji launched himself at Reaper, the Shimada dragon spiraling around his sword. He slashed at Reaper but Reaper turned to smoke and Genji phased through him. Reaper fired and a spray of shotgun fire caught Genji in the back, the force of the blast sending him tumbling across the floor, his sword clattering behind him.

McCree’s breath caught in his throat and he raised his gun on Reaper only to be met with a shotgun blast in the stomach. The force of the the blast knocked McCree against one of the satellite monitors where he slumped to the floor. It was then that the lights in Lijiang Tower finally turned back on.

“Light’s back on!” D.Va announced over the comm, “We’re rendezvousing at your position! What’s your status? McCree? Genji? You there?”

The lights in Genji’s heat sinks and visor and torso were flickering as he grunted in pain on the floor. Reaper glanced over his shoulder at McCree, who was gripping his stomach and struggling against the monitor. Then turned his attention back to Genji.

“Did you really think pulling another little light show like you did back in Volskaya would work again?” said Reaper, stepping forward. He half scoffed and half chuckled, “You know, I never paid you back for that.”

Genji coughed and struggled to get up as Reaper stopped in front of him. Reaper pointed a gun at Genji’s head. “It’s all right now,” he said, “I know your pain. The things Doctor Ziegler creates don’t belong in this world.”

“Angela–” Genji coughed and Reaper briefly pulled the gun back in slight surprise that he was using her first name, “Angela didn’t _make_ me. She saved me.”

“You believe that?” Reaper tilted his head.

Genji coughed. “She tried to save you too. She tried–,” he coughed again and the heat sinks in his shoulders steamed and their lights flickered, “But the SEP serum—”

Reaper suddenly seized Genji by the throat, hoisted him up and slammed him into the wall behind him. “Let’s see what it is Doctor Ziegler saves,” he said. He fixed his clawed hands on Genji’s faceplate and visor, then with a grunt he yanked back and ripped them both off, revealing Genji’s heavily scarred face. Genji’s breath was ragged. 

Reaper scoffed a little. “So she slaved hours upon hours in a lab… for this,” said Reaper. Genji spat in his face. Reaper was unfazed by this and pressed the barrel of his gun against Genji’s scarred cheek. 

“Gabe,” Reaper heard a voice behind him and briefly brought the gun away from Genji’s cheek and glanced over his shoulder to see McCree struggling to his feet, peacekeeper revolver in hand.

“You don’t get to call me that,” said Reaper, turning on his heel to face McCree while still gripping Genji’s neck. 

“You don’t want to do this, Gabe,” said McCree, bracing a bloody hand against the satellite monitor. 

Reaper scoffed. “I do want to do this. I’ve been doing this for a very long time,” He gave Genji’s neck a slight squeeze as he said this, causing Genji’s legs to flail weakly, “I happen to be very good at it.”

“Gabe—he’s got a family,” said McCree. 

“I know. And the reason he’s here–the reason he’s like this, is because they didn’t finish the job,” Reaper put his gun back against Genji’s cheek, “So I’ll do it.”

“That’s not what I mean–I mean he’s…” McCree grunted in pain and doubled over, gripping his stomach.

“Jesse,” Genji’s voice was weak, “Don’t…”

“Don’t what?” said Reaper, turning his attention back to Genji, “You think you’re the first person with a family I’ve killed? Let me guess: _Overwatch_ is your family now. I believed that too until…” Reaper trailed off and looked at Genji, “No…” he said slowly, “That’s not it.” He noticed Genji’s eyes widening, and Reaper suddenly drew back from Genji, “…You’re not serious,” said Reaper. Genji said nothing, only coughed a little.

“He’s gonna have a family,” McCree, still gripping the wound in his stomach.

Reaper scoffed. “Still a poor liar, Cowboy,” he said, pressing his gun against the side of Genji’s face, “But don’t worry. You’ll be joining him soon–” 

An arrow whistled through the air and embedded itself in the side of Reaper’s chest. Reaper glanced down at the arrow.

“Rude,” he said.

“ _Ryū ga waga teki wo kurau!”_ Hanzo’s voice echoed through the room and suddenly two enormous dragons were spiraling towards Reaper. Reaper dropped Genji to the ground and dissolved into shadows and disappeared as the dragons were sweeping over him and Hanzo leapt down from a balcony and rushed over to McCree and Genji.

“Genji–” he was at his brother’s side in an instant. Genji was unsettlingly still until he coughed and Hanzo breathed a sigh of relief. 

“’Bout time you got here,” said McCree, slumping to the floor.

“I came here as swiftly as—Jesse!” Hanzo nearly moved to rush over but then glanced down at Genji and was stuck in a panic between who to run to when a glowing golden orb suddenly shot over and hovered over Genji.

“Oh no,” D.Va and Zenyatta were standing at the edge of the room. D.Va sprang out of her MEKA and ran over with Zenyatta alongside her.

“Is he—?” she looked down at Genji.

“He’s alive,” said Hanzo.

“Reaper?” Jack rushed into the room with Mei hurrying behind him.

McCree coughed up some blood, “Just missed him,” he said, smiling with blood-pinkened teeth.

“Dammit,” muttered Jack as he sprinted over and set down a biotic field to stabilize both Genji and McCree.

“We need to get them back to the Watchpoint!” said Mei.

“Athena,” Jack put a hand to his ear, “Warm up the Orca.” He glanced over at Genji as Hanzo hauled him to his feet and slung his arm over his shoulder, “We’re going home.” Jack held a hand out to McCree, and McCree reached forward and took it. Jack helped him up to his feet and slung McCree’s arm over his own shoulder and began walking with him. Zenyatta periodically switched the orb of harmony between Genji and McCree as they walked over.

“Brother…” Genji’s hand weakly went up 

“Conserve your strength,” said Hanzo.

“Brother, if I don’t make it back to the Watchpoint, tell Angela—” Genji started.

“You _will_ make it back to the Watchpoint. You will be fine,” Hanzo said with a furrowed brow. 

“Please… just promise me… if anything happens… You’ll tell Angela…”

Hanzo rolled his eyes, “Tell Angela what?” said Hanzo.

“Tell Angela not to name the baby ‘Jesse,’” said Genji. Hanzo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Genji laughed weakly then winced.

“You’re an ass, Genji,” said McCree, Genji just snickered weakly in turn as they made their way, limping, to the Orca.


	5. Baby Shower Shopping

“Teething necklace,” said Pharah, holding up a chunky plastic beaded necklace.

Symmetra raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“For teething?” said Pharah, giving a glance to the necklace.

“Yes, let’s just encourage the baby to gnaw on jewelry,” said Symmetra, picking up a onesie off the rack and testing the elasticity of the fabric.

“Mum always swore by them,” said Pharah, running the chunky beads between her fingers, “Said she didn’t have to worry about me dropping them on the ground.”

“Well then you can bet she will probably be getting them one,” said Symmetra, narrowing her eyes at another onesie with a duckling pattern on it.

“You’re pretty set on clothes, I’m guessing?” Pharah smirked.

“ _Someone_ here has to make sure this child is remotely presentable,” said Symmetra.

 Pharah snorted and a smile tugged at the corner of Symmetra’s mouth as she pulled another onesie off the rack. Symmetra was examining a vintage-style floral ogee patterned baby dress when Pharah came up to her with a blue fighter plane-patterned onesie.

“Really?” said Symmetra, looking at the onesie.

“It’s cute,” said Pharah.

Symmetra sighed, then smiled, “I will humor you,” she said, taking the onesie and putting it on her arm along with the dress. Pharah watched as Symmetra continued sliding clothes down the rack. Symmetra felt Pharah’s eyes on her as she picked up different clothing off the rack and turned it around before putting it back on.

“And what, may I ask, are you looking at?” said Symmetra, glancing over at a smirking Pharah.

“You know, most people coo and go ‘oh how cute!’ when shopping for baby clothes. You just make the architect face.”

“The ‘architect face?’” said Symmetra, arching an eyebrow

“There it is,” said Pharah, grinning. Symmetra just scoffed and smiled in turn.

Pharah picked up a knit dark blue baby beret. “You ever think about kids?”

Symmetra paused and put a onesie back on the rack. “ _Please_ tell me Ana isn’t pressuring you for grandchildren already,” she said, turning and facing Pharah.

Pharah snorted, turning the small cap over in her hands, “No, just… I was pretty much raised on Watchpoints and now with Angela and Genji well… you know… it’s hard not to think about.”

“Do _you_ want children?” said Symmetra.

“Maybe,” said Pharah with a shrug, “You didn’t really answer me though.”

“And ‘maybe’ is a good enough answer?” said Symmetra, smirking.

“Satya,” Pharah said, folding her arms and smiling. 

Symmetra sighed and chuckled a little, “I like children _in theory,_ ” she said, “The reality is usually far… stickier.”

Pharah snorted. “You’re speaking from experience?”

“Believe it or not Vishkar _loved_ having children in their developments. As a matter of fact, one of my first assignments with the Architech Academy was assisting in the construction of a hard-light playground for Utopaea. It was good for PR, ” said Symmetra, she paused and then looked distant, her smile fading, “Of course, likely much of it also had to do with the fact that children were also easily manipulated. Easily indoctrinated into Vishkar’s vision for the world.” Symmetra’s brow furrowed and she seemed lost in thought.

Pharah put a hand on Symmetra’s shoulder, then leaned forward and kissed her on the temple. Symmetra huffed and smiled, her prosthetic hand gently brushing along Pharah’s jawline. “Don’t worry,” she said, “I’m all right.” She glanced down at the several onesies and one dress she had grabbed, briefly thumbed through them, and gave a satisfied nod. “I believe we’re all set,” said Symmetra. Pharah set the little beret on top of the pile.

“Really?” said Symmetra.

“To go with the airplane one,” said Pharah, “They match.”

“The airplane one is navy. This is cobalt,” said Symmetra, “They do not match.”

“Seriously?” said Pharah.

Symmetra sighed. “Very well. I will humor you,” she said making her way to the checkout.


	6. Photos

They had not expected Mercy to be on the couch with Ana when they returned to the Watchpoint. Symmetra shoved the shopping bags she was holding into Pharah’s arms and then quickly waved Pharah to go up into their room before turning and facing Ana and Mercy on the couch. 

“Angela,” Symmetra cleared her throat, “We… did not expect to see you here.”

“Jack needed Genji on a call in Lijiang,” said Mercy, turning a page in a large book that was between her and Ana, “Ana invited me over.” Angela looked down at the page and snickered.

“What are you looking at?” said Symmetra, stepping toward the couch.

“Just some of Fareeha’s baby pictures,” said Ana.

“Her what?” said Symmetra.

“My _what?!_ ” Pharah’s voice came from the top of the stairs.

“Oh it’s nothing embarrassing, you look adorable,  _ḥabībti,”_ said Ana.

Symmetra stepped over and sat on the other side of Ana and looked over Ana’s shoulder down at the photo album. “Here,” Ana said, turning a few pages back, “I can start over for you.”

“Oh that’s not necess–” Symmetra started, then glanced down at the page to see a photo of a chubby-cheeked baby Fareeha Amari sleeping in a tightly wrapped blanket, “…Thank you,” she said. Ana just chuckled. The first few pages were a collage of mostly similar pictures, all of Pharah as a newborn, most of which apparently taken within the first few weeks of Pharah’s birth, in that stage when most babies resembled concerned raisins. There was a photo of Pharahs’ father holding her, but backlit so that most of his features were obscured compared to the light of the window behind him. “He never did like having his picture taken,” said Ana, turning the page to a photo of baby Pharah bathing in a sink, and a photo of her wrapped up in a hooded towel apparently designed to look like a blue jay.

“How was she?” said Symmetra, turning a page and not even glancing up at Ana or Mercy.

“The first few months? An angel,” said Ana, grinning, “That quickly changed, however.”

“Mum,” Pharah approached the couch, “Really?”

“You never could sit still for very long,” said Ana, with a smirk. Ana turned a page in the photo album to a picture of baby Pharah brandishing a wooden spoon. She glanced over at Mercy. “A word of advice, Angela: Once it’s old enough to crawl, just give your baby a metal bowl and a large wooden spoon. You’ll always know what room its in because they can’t resist dragging both around and making noise. It served me better than any baby monitor with Fareeha.”

Mercy giggled. “I’ll probably just keep an eye on it,” she said smiling.

Ana raised an eyebrow, “Any child of Genji’s is _definitely_ going to slip from your sight at some point,” she said with a slight grin.

“I suppose you’re right there,” said Mercy. Symmetra turned the page to a winter scene with baby Pharah all wrapped up in a knit hat and tiny peacoat sitting on a snowbank.

“Vancouver,” said Pharah, sitting down on the couch and putting an arm around Symmetra. “I’d spend winters with Dad there.”

The photo immediately following it was a picture of the same snowbank, only now with a large hole in it where presumably Pharah had sunken in. Pharah smirked and Symmetra turned to the next page. The next pages were of baby Pharah in different winter gear, then of Pharah in a sundress and a tiny pair of sunglasses at an airport, then of baby Pharah asleep on a plane. Symmetra realized that Ana and Mercy and Pharah had all gone quiet and she glanced up to find all three of them staring at her. She cleared her throat. “What?” she said.

“Oh you were just making a darling face, dear,” said Ana.

“Oh–Well..” Symmetra tucked her hair back then handed the photo album over to Ana, “Here you should—” Ana took the photo album, smiled, and turned the page.

The next photo was of a younger Ana in full Overwatch regalia with baby Pharah in a sling, then a photo of Jack holding baby Pharah and smiling, then a photo of Jack immediately after baby Pharah threw up on him, then a photo of Gabe donning Pharah in her baby sling and trying to look as tough as he could. Ana cleared her throat and turned the page, but the next page was _full_ of pictures of Gabe with baby Pharah.

“…he was always so serious,” there was something affected in Ana’s voice, “I always thought it was funny when I gave Fareeha to him to hold…it would be like flipping a switch for him,” she paused, “We were all so young back then…”

“Mum?” said Pharah. Symmetra felt Pharah’s arm unconsciously squeeze her a bit closer.

 Ana shook her head and turned the page again to a chubby baby Ana taking her first steps. Ana cleared her throat, “This–” she said looking at Mercy, “This is when they _really_ start getting into trouble.

“I can imagine,” said Mercy, forcing a smile.

“What sort of trouble?” asked Symmetra.

“Oh she was an explorer,” said Ana, “And a real terror to the whole Watchpoint. You gave Torbjörn quite a lot of trouble, you know,” Ana said, looking at Pharah, “His workshop was never toddler-proof, and of course she’d find _some way_ to get in and he’d have to shut everything down and call me.” 

“Torbjörn’s workshop?” Symmetra raised an eyebrow at Pharah.

“…I liked the clanging,” Pharah said, shrugging. Ana turned the page again.

“Oh I remember this,” said Ana, looking across the pictures, “This was back when your father—”

Mercy’s comm suddenly rang. “Oh–sorry, I should take this,” she said, standing up and walking off, “Jack? How is everything?”

Symmetra just cuddled into the crook of Pharah’s arm as they continued leafing through the photo album, but their smiles faded as they heard Mercy speaking on the comm.

“Jack, slow down, what do you mean—” Mercy’s hand flew over her mouth, “No–Is he—?” her hand went to her chest and she exhaled, then quickly grabbed her jacket, “You keep those biotics on him, Jack Morrison, you—” She took a shuddering breath, “You get here as fast as possible. I’ll have a bed in the infirmary set up. I’ll—” she pressed a hand to her forehead, “…Can I speak to him?” she paused and her eyes widened, “Understood. Just–get him back here.” She ended the call on the comm and Ana was on her feet in seconds, clasping Mercy’s shaking hands in hers.

“I have to—I need to go,” said Mercy. 

“It’s all right,” said Ana. Mercy closed her eyes and her brow crinkled and lips thinned and Ana brought a hand up under Mercy’s chin. “Look,” she said, forcing Mercy to look at her, “It’s going to be alright. _He’s_ going to be all right. It’s nothing you haven’t handled before.”

Mercy nodded and then pulled on her jacket and rushed out the door. Ana closed the door behind her, exhaled and turned to face Symmetra and Pharah behind her. Ana itched at her eyepatch and sighed.

“Do you know what happened?” said Pharah.

“No more than you do,” said Ana, folding her arms, “But…these things happen,” she sighed and walked over, then gave a glance at the photo album, “I suppose that’s why it’s important to take pictures of the good parts.”


	7. Followup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not a prompt, but I felt bad just leaving Genji and Mercy hanging with Genji being shot and all.

“He’s been stable for hours. Morrison and Master Tekhartha were able to maintain a steady stream of biotics throughout the ride over,” An omnic nurse was looking through a tablet at Genji’s condition, “Between that and the repairs to his cybernetic systems, along with plenty of bed-rest, he should be ready for the training field within the week, mission-ready within two.”

Angela’s arms were crossed over herself, and they tightened around her at the thought of Genji going out in the field so soon. But then Genji himself would likely be frustrated at how long it would take for him to heal compared to other times. She knew she should be relieved that the injuries were so treatable—-that was what she worked for, that was how biotics worked—-but she remembered Volskaya, and the thought of Reaper coming so close to killing Genji itched at a dark and terrifying memory in her mind. The omnic nurse opened the curtain to Genji’s section in the infirmary and Mercy stepped forward.

Genji was in a bed near the window. His eyes were closed but they flicked open and glanced over at her as soon as the rings of the curtain were drawn back. “Angela—” he started and moved to sit up but winced and sank against the pillows as she hurried over and clasped his hand in hers. “Are you all right?” he managed.

“Am _I_ alright?!” she repeated the question incredulously after him, sitting down on the edge of the bed, “You—you’re…”

“I’ve had worse,” said Genji, “Far worse.” He smirked a little, “However it appears that Reaper ruined my handsome face. How ever will you love me without my good looks?”

Mercy’s lip was quivering and tears were brimming in her eyes, but that managed to get a sputter of a laugh out of her that sent the tears running down her face. She made a sound that was part scoff, part laugh, and part sob. “You’re terrible sometimes, do you know that?” she said.

“Well, if we’re raising a child at least one of us is going to need a sense of humor,” said Genji.

“Why did I marry you?” muttered Mercy, smiling and brushing her hair back from her face.

“You panicked,” said Genji.

“I said why, not how. And you were pretty panicked too, if memory serves,” said Mercy, folding her arms.

“Yes but _I_ was still set on a garden ceremony, but then you started going on, saying ‘Genji backup should have arrived hours ago’ and ‘Genji I don’t think we will make it out of here,’ and ‘Genji I love you’ and ‘Genji this could be our only chance.’”

“It very well could have been!” said Mercy. She took a deep breath then huffed a little and closed her eyes, forcing another tear to bud out from the corner of her eye. Genji reached forward and brushed it away with his thumb.

“Angela,” he spoke and she opened her eyes. He managed to scoot himself slightly off to the side of his infirmary bed. 

“Are you sure you’re---?” Mercy started.

“Please,” said Genji.

Mercy kicked off her shoes and brought her legs up onto the bed, then settled on her side with her own head against the pillows, facing him. His eyes glanced downward and his hand went over her stomach and stayed there. Both were silent for a while.

“It’s not going to start moving for a couple weeks, you know,” said Mercy.

“Shimada are notoriously precocious,” said Genji.

Mercy scoffed a bit and rolled her eyes but then she glanced at Genji’s face.

“Are you all right?” she said. Genji’s eyes just flicked up at her and she said, “Right--shot. Stupid question.” 

Half a chuckle escaped Genji but then his smile faded. He was quiet for a while. “I forget sometimes,” he said finally. 

“You forget?” said Mercy.

“For a long time I would just... throw myself into the fight, over and over again. Let myself get torn apart, over and over again. I did not care much for what I was, so I did not care very much what happened to me. As long as I could get the mission done and proceed to the next step, it didn’t really matter to me. I’ve gotten better about it, but sometimes I catch myself in a fight and realize that I’ve done it without thinking.” 

“You didn’t...” Mercy trailed off.

“At Lijiang?” Genji shook his head, “No, that was just simple miscalculation. I keep running through the mission in my head, and there isn’t much I would do differently. If McCree hadn’t bought time however...” Genji trailed off, “ _Kuso--_ that was stupid of him...”

Mercy readjusted herself against the pillows. “Well, from what I read of the reports, it _did_ buy time, I don’t think Reaper actually believed him, and even if he did, Reaper’s not going to make a move on the Watchpoint anytime soon. Talon’s got more important things to worry about.”

“Hm,” Genji seemed unconvinced.

“Hey--” Mercy shifted herself slightly on the bed and put a hand on the side of Genji’s face, “It’s all right. We’re safe now. Just rest.”

“Will you stay?” said Genji, “Just... humor me.”

Mercy leaned forward and kissed him on the brow. “I would be happy to,” she said, smiling.

Genji smiled and closed his eyes.


	8. Mood Swings

Mercy was curled up on one of the workbenches, her voice half-drowned out by the clanging of Torbjörn’s hammer with tears running down her face.

“…And it’s not like either of us really had a _concept_ of a normal childhood either!” she went on, “They were training him to be an assassin! An _assassin!_ And I mean—I had family members sort of… passing me off between each other and that’s not a _home!_ I just—” she pressed her hands over her eyes, “I’m going to be a terrible mother.”

Torbjörn stopped hammering. “You are not going to be a terrible mother,” he sighed.

“But how do you _know?_ ” Mercy’s voice cracked on a sob and Torbjörn just rubbed his forehead, exhausted.

“I don’t,” said Torbjörn, “But I know you. Usually when I think ‘terrible caregivers,’ ‘Angela Ziegler’ is not a name that pops up.”

Mercy hugged her knees. “I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Well I’m afraid that part doesn’t go away,” said Torbjörn.

—

Mercy was pacing back and forth in front of Athena.

“It’s Lijiang all over again,” she said, pressing her fingertips to her temples.

“It’s not like Lijiang,” said Jack, folding his arms, “He’s fine.”

“He doesn’t take this long to report in,” said Mercy, continuing to pace.

“You realize he’s taking the same amount of time that he’s always taken, right?” said Jack and Mercy stopped pacing, “Sit down,” said Jack, “Breathe. You’re both going to be all right.” 

Mercy plopped down into a seat. “I just—ever since Lijiang I keep on getting these… flashes, like—what if I have to raise it alone?”

“Knowing Genji, he’s probably not going to let that happen,” said Jack, folding his arms, “But–no matter what happens Doc, you know I’m here for you, right?”

Mercy scoffed. “’Here for me,’” she said bitterly, “I can’t wait to give birth and to have you fake your death and disappear for five years again.” She instantly caught herself and put a hand over her mouth. “Oh– _verdammt_ —Jack—I’m sorry, I don’t know where that came from.”

“Well I mean…” Jack shrugged, “…fair.”

—-

“I’m a _whale,_ ” Mercy moaned from the couch. 

“This is false,” said Orisa, “You are not a whale.”

“I’m a whale and Genji will never love me again and the baby hates me,” said Mercy.

“I highly doubt my student’s affections towards you are going to change,” said Zenyatta.

“You are not a whale. You have no fins,” Orisa insisted again, then paused. “Query: The infant has not arrived yet—how is it capable of hating you?”

“It’s been kicking me for _three hours,_ ” said Mercy, miserable, “It knows I’m a terrible person. It hates me.”

“It does not hate you,” said Zenyatta, “You are not a terrible person. Such energy is to be expected, perhaps celebrated, even.”

Mercy just moaned again. Orisa bent over the couch and spoke, quite seriously, to Mercy’s stomach.

 “Cease your resistance.”

\---

“And…you are sure you are well?” said Genji.

Mercy sighed, exasperated, “Yes, Genji, I’m fine.”

“All right,” said Genji, “So you just want me to leave you to continue eating that block of cheese while crying?”

“Yes,” Mercy’s voice cracked.

**—-**

“Genji, I’m glad you’ve patched things up with your brother, but I swear the next time he brings up dragons in reference to my stomach, then pacifism and hippocratic oath be damned, I’m punching him in the face.”

“I—” Genji glanced up from the scattered crib parts on the floor, “Did something happen?”

“’ _The dragon stirs within you_ ,’” Mercy imitated Hanzo’s deep timbre.

“Ah…” Genji awkwardly rubbed the back his neck, “Yes.. well…he does that.”

**—-**

“Dinner’s ready,” said Genji. 

“Mm,” Mercy was frowning between several different paint swatches on the wall.

“So…how is the nesting coming along?” said Genji, leaning against the doorway.

Mercy scoffed. “I am not ‘nesting.’”

“You’re nesting,” said Genji.

“I can stop at any time,” said Mercy, “Maybe you can help me.” She gestured at the paint swatches on the wall. “Meadow and sunbeam,” she pointed at two swatches on the left, “Or Pistachio and creme?”

Genji glanced between the two. The paint shades were practically identical. “Uh…”

“Genji, your visor lets you see a much wider spectrum of colors than most people. It’s not that hard,” said Mercy, folding her arms.

“Meadow,” Genji blurted out, pointing to one.

“That’s pistachio,” said Mercy, her brow furrowing.

“…yes?” said Genji.

Mercy sighed and massaged her temples. 

“I like pink,” said Genji, glancing back at the color swatches, “We’re not even considering pink?”

Mercy shook her head. “Pink is… cloying. Green is supposed to relax, and yellow is supposed to encourage happiness and creativity.”

“Well…I… trust your judgment,” said Genji.

“I asked for your help in this, not to just default to my judgment,” said Mercy, frowning. She caught herself and then ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I don’t know why I’m letting myself get so worked up about this. This is–Well it _started out_ fun and now it’s—” she pressed the heels of her hands to her forehead and then leaned against the wall with the color swatches and slumped down to the floor. Genji took a seat next to her. 

“…How long have you been at this?” 

“Well I mean, it was mostly just cleaning my old file boxes out of here, then cleaning out that closet, then vacuuming this rug–which we are definitely replacing by the way–and then I took a break to eat and when I was done the room was clear enough so that I thought it was a good time to look at color swatches and,” Mercy glanced at her comm, “ _Mein gott_ it’s been 9 hours,” her voice filled with a quiet horror. She moaned and slumped against Genji. “ _Auch du scheisse_ –I’m _nesting._ ”

“Nooo, you can stop at any time,” said Genji, playfully elbowing her.

“Don’t make fun of me,” she said, her voice half-muffled into his shoulder. She sighed and looked up at him. “I was supposed to take it easy today,” she murmured, “I’m not supposed to _be_ like this! I–I’m supposed to be in control.”

“You’re in control,” Genji mindlessly played with her her hair. “I think we both know you have a tendency to overwork,” he said with a slight chuckle, but he glanced up at the room, “To be honest I had hoped we would be doing this together.”

“Oh–” Mercy sat up, “It hadn’t even occurred to me–I should have–You were on a mission, and I thought it would take my mind off of things—”

“It’s fine–It’s fine,” Genji put his hands on her shoulders and then leaned his head against hers, “You’re doing fine.”

They sat there for a while before Genji remembered dinner was waiting for them in the kitchen. “Come on,” he rose to his feet and held a hand out to her, “Let’s get some food.”

Mercy took his hand and he helped her to her feet. She walked out of the room and he stood in the doorway briefly. “A little pink wouldn’t hurt,” he said, mostly to himself before following after her.


	9. Kids on the Watchpoint

“Tildy–” Torbjörn started.

“Don’t you ‘Tildy’ me,” said Mathilde, moving Ivar up on her hip, “You said you needed someone to look at that secondary generator and here I am. I welcome you to find a sitter for eight on such short notice. And you know the kids–they were all throwing a fit at the idea that I might see Bastion without them.” 

“But the watchpoint is no place for children!” said Torbjorn, “They’ll get in the way and underfoot and they’ll fool with things they aren’t supposed to and—” Torbjörn was cut off by a laughing shriek from Astrid and he quickly turned on his heel to see Astrid riding on Pharah’s shoulders, her arms spread as Pharah charged across the watchpoint tarmac, laughing. “I can do without you undermining my point, Amari!” he shouted after her. 

“What’s that? I can’t hear you over the jet engines!” Pharah shouted back, her voice half drowned out by Astrid’s laughing.

“There are no jet engi–” Torbjörn started but Pharah cut him off with jet engine noises. Torbjörn turned back to Mathilde and made a ‘See?’ gesture at Pharah. “They’ll just distract everyone!”

“Nonsense. They’ll be on their best behavior,” said Mathilde, as Ivar cooed and grabbed at her braid, “Now, show me that generator.”

—

“Can you make a dinosaur?”

Symmetra was at her desk, materializing and dematerializing different hard light constructs for photon shield projectors. She turned around to see an nine year old boy with shaggy blonde hair, and what looked like a red-headed slightly younger boy riding piggyback.

“A what?” Symmetra arched an eyebrow.

“A dinosaur,” the boy repeated. He mimicked Symmetra’s motion of shaping hard light with his hands, “Like a velociraptor or a triceratops. Can you make one?”

“Wha-Who are you?” said Symmetra.

“Alrik Lindholme,” the boy answered, he gave a nod to the kid on his back, “This is Oskar.”

Oskar waved.

“Lindholme,” Symmetra said the name to herself, “Of course.”

“So can you make a dinosaur?” said Alrik.

Symmetra blinked a few times, then seemed to think. “I have not before, but I do not see why I would not be able to,” she said at last.

—

“I will need to ask for that back from you eventually, brother,” said Genji as Hanzo squinted at the ultrasound and turned it upside-down.

“There are no complications?” said Hanzo, frowning.

“No, she is doing very well,” said Genji.

“She?” Hanzo repeated, glancing up from the paper.

“She!” McCree slapped Genji on the back, “It’s a ‘she!’”

“I meant Angela!” Genji insisted, “I was talking about Angela!”

Hanzo smirked. “You never were a good liar with me,” he said, handing the paper back to Genji.

“Man, that’s great,” said McCree. He snorted and elbowed Genji, “Pretty crazy to think that there’s gonna be a kid running around the Watchpoi–”

A child, a red-headed girl with glasses, ran past the three of them.

“…huh,” said McCree.

Another child, a girl with loose long blond hair, ran past after her, pursued by Bastion, who appeared to have two identical twin redhead girls perched on its shoulders. 

“Gotdamn, Genji, you’ve been busy,” said McCree. Hanzo snorted.

“They’re not mine!” said Genji.

—

Once work on the generator was done, Mercy and Mathilde sat out on the watchpoint observation deck, watching the sun set.

“Five months?” said Mathilde, bouncing Ivar on her knee.

“Six next week,” said Mercy.

“And what’s that you’re eating?” said Mathilde, nodding toward the plastic quart in Mercy’s hands.

“Cottage cheese and chocolate syrup,” said Mercy, stirring the quart.

“It was mushrooms for me,” said Mathilde, “And onions.”

“For all of them?” said Mercy, incredulously.

“Well there was a little variation with each one, but mushrooms and onions were the constant,” said Mathilde.

“Cheese, chocolate, and apple rösti with egg,” said Mercy, taking another bite of her cottage cheese. She glanced over at Mathilde, “This is the third quart I’ve gone through in almost as many days,” she said, pointing at the quart with her fork. Mathilde snorted. Mercy glanced over at Ivar. “How do you do it?”

“People always underestimate the engineers,” said Mathilde with a wry grin, lifting Ivar up. She glanced over at Mercy, “It’s hard, then it gets easier, then when you finally feel like you’re on top of things, then things change and you have to figure everything out all over again.”

“And you did this eight times over?” said Mercy.

Mathilde shrugged. “Torbjörn and I both always wanted a big family. Sometimes we would joke that we were spiting the Omnics for how many people they took from us during the crisis but mostly…” she glanced down at Ivar, “We were just falling in love over and over again.”

Mercy smiled at this.

“You give any thought to having more than one?” said Mathilde.

“We’re going to see if we can handle this one first,” said Mercy with a slight laugh.

—

“Hey Satya,” Pharah opened the door to Symmetra’s office, “Have you seen Alrik and…Oskar…?”

 Pharah trailed off and looked around the office, which was filled with hard-light constructs in the shapes of dinosaurs and other prehistoric organisms. Hard-light pterosaurs hung from the ceiling. Hard-light tyrannosaurs and velociraptors ruled on the desk. The blue geometric-patterened rug, which Symmetra had apparently deemed the ocean, featured several hard-light trilobites and nautili, a hard-light megalodon, and a hard-light icthyosaur. Oskar and Alrik were playing with a hard-light stegosaurus and triceratops on the floor. Symmetra herself was smiling and shaping a hard-light plesiosaur when she looked up at Pharah and froze.

“…I can explain,” said Symmetra.


	10. Anniversary

Mercy’s grip on her caduceus staff tightened. “Are they still there?” she asked. She moved to look, but Genji put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. He peeked out from behind the wall they were both hiding behind, then instantly drew back as a section of the cement shattered right where his head had peeked out with sniper fire.

“Yes,” said Genji, trying not to think of what could have just happened.

“Ziegler, where are you?” Jack barked over the comm, “I’m down to my last biotic canister! We need a medic!”

“The sniper still has us pinned down,” said Mercy, bringing a hand to her ear, “Believe me Jack, I’d get to you if I could but—”

Mercy was cut off by the sound of gunfire on the other side of the comm. Her eyes widened and her hand went over her mouth.

“They need you,” said Genji.

“Well I won’t be much good to them shot,” said Mercy, watching the red dot of the sniper’s sight trail on a section of exposed wall.

Genji paused. “I can give you an opening,” he said.

“ _What?_ ” said Mercy, “No–out of the question.”

Genji glanced at his arm and turned it, and saw the faint glow of a photon barrier.

“Symmetra’s shielding is still active,” he said, looking back up at her, “It should take most of the shot if I get hit. I can deflect and evade and by then I will have hopefully closed enough distance to dispatch the sniper. Meanwhile you can get to the rest of the team.”

“It’s too risky,” said Mercy.

“I do not see another option,” said Genji, “Nor do we have much time for debate on this.”

Mercy exhaled and furrowed her brow before looking away from Genji. “Jack–” she brought a hand to her ear, “Are you still alive?”

“We’re still alive,” said Jack, “Enemy’s disappeared for now. I think they’re regrouping. Lot of blood though. Once Vaswani’s shield generator goes down, we’re all in big trouble.”

“I’ll be over as soon as I can. Hold on,” said Mercy, clicking out of the comm, “Genji, give me the signal when you’re ready to—” she glanced over at Genji and found he was down on one knee and clicking off his faceplate and bringing his visor up. “What are you—?” she started. He took her hand.

“I will not lie to you, I’m not sure if this idea will work,” said Genji, “I was going to ask you once the mission was over, but considering the current circumstances—” he took a steadying breath, “Angela Ziegler, will y–”

“Yes,” said Mercy. Genji’s eyes widened and Mercy’s hand went over her mouth again. “I–” Mercy took a short breath, “I–sorry—I should have—” Genji just chuckled a little.

“It’s fine,” said Genji, grinning and getting to his feet. They kissed. It was a quick, hard, and desperate kiss since both knew they still had to dispatch the sniper and get to Jack and the others. They broke away as Hanzo spoke over the comm. “I’m seeing the enemy regrouping on the perimeter. I can slow them down, but we still need Doctor Ziegler.”

“I’ll be right there,” said Mercy, looking at Genji as he clicked his faceplate back on.

“There _is_ a ring,” said Genji, bringing his visor back down, “It’s just–” he cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, “It’s back on the Watchpoint.”

“I suppose we’d better make sure we make it back then,” said Mercy, smiling.

Genji gave a single nod.

“Ready when you are,” said Mercy.

“Right,” said Genji, turning his attention to the area past the wall.

–

**4 Months Later**

“Not doing it,” said Jack, folding his arms. The ceiling rumbled overhead and Genji pulled a little closer to Mercy, his hand clasping hers. Talon drones were bombing the area, they had taken shelter in some shelled-out ruins. Sombra was trying to hack the drones remotely but they would pull out of range before she could bring them down. The situation did not look good.

“I don’t ask you for much, Jack,” said Mercy, furrowing her brows, “You’ve done it before.”

“Yeah, before Overwatch was disgraced,” said Jack, “I don’t exactly have the same license to—”

“Done,” said Sombra, tapping through several screens.

“What?” said Jack, turning to look at her.

“Done. You’re a minister–well, non-denominational officiant. You can do it now,” said Sombra, bringing up a projection of a diploma-like document.

“…You’re not serious,” said Jack.

“Also Justice of the Peace in the state of Indiana for good measure,” said Sombra, bringing up several more documents on screen.

“If you can hack me into ministry, why not just hack _them_ a goddamn marriage certificate?” said Jack.

“Where’s the fun in that?” said Sombra, “I want to see how Jack Morrison conducts a wedding.”

Jack’s brow furrowed, “Why did we even let you on the team?”

“My skills are indispensable,” said Sombra, “Also blackmail.”

Jack scoffed. “This is ridiculous.”

Sombra shrugged, “Hey–if we’re all gonna die in a shelled-out ruin, might as well make the last hour nice, right?” 

Jack kept his arms folded.

“Five years, Jack,” said Mercy, with a furrowed brow.

“Hmph,” Jack rubbed his forehead, “Fine. Fine, I’ll do it.”

Sombra gave a smirk over her shoulder at Genji, “Looks like you owe me again, Sparrow.”

“I hate owing you,” muttered Genji, but he seemed to soften as Mercy hooked her arm in his. The ceiling rumbled again and several chunks of rubble fell from above.

“Right,” said Jack, “Guess we don’t have a lot of time. Okay then well…I guess you both can just… stay there.” He cleared his throat. “Dearly beloved—”

“Seriously?” said Sombra, “You’re starting with that?”

“You know if you got a problem with the wedding or how I conduct it, there’s a cue for you to say so,” said Jack.

“I’m just saying, it’s cliche’d,” said Sombra.

“Unless backup arrives, we could die literally any minute. I’ve got bigger concerns than cliches,” said Jack as the ceiling rumbled again and a distant explosion was heard.

“Sorry it’s not a garden ceremony like you wanted,” Mercy whispered under her breath to Genji. Genji snickered. 

“Anyway–Dearly beloved,” Jack started again, and both Genji and Mercy perked up and stood at attention, hands clasped together as the ceiling rumbled again.

—

**One Year Later**

Genji’s cybernetics woke him a bit earlier than he would have liked. They always did. He was used to it at this point. He sat up a bit and glanced over at Mercy, still sleeping, most of her face covered up by her blond hair. He tucked some of her hair behind her ear and kissed her on the temple and she grunted and her brow furrowed in the morning light. He laid back down in bed and moved to rest his eyes more but she grunted again.

“Tell her to stop,” muttered Mercy.

“Hm?” Genji sat up a bit.

“She’s kicking again,” said Mercy.

Genji’s face lit up and his hand instantly went over Mercy’s stomach. He waited, but there was nothing. 

“It was over here,” said Mercy, putting her hand over his and moving his hand upward slightly. He waited again. Still nothing.

He sighed. “I keep missing i–” he felt something push against the heel of his hand and his eyes widened. A short laugh escaped him. There was another kick, against his fingers this time. “Lively, isn’t she?” he said.

Mercy just groaned. “I blame you,” she said, pushing more of her hair back from her face.

“A true Shimada,” Genji spoke with semi-mock gravitas.

“Your ‘true Shimada’ kept waking me up all night,” said Mercy.

“In true Shimada fashion,” said Genji, smirking, “Night is usually when we get most of our work done.” 

“It’s not like she has a lot to _do_ in there,” muttered Mercy, "Except kicking, it seems."

“Well maybe she’s just excited,” said Genji, wrapping his arms around Mercy and pressing his face into the back of her shoulder. 

“Excited?”

“It’s been one year since Ilios today,” said Genji, his voice partially muffled by her hair.

“Ilios–? Mercy glanced over her shoulder at him. She chuckled a little, “I thought we didn’t count Ilios.”

“I count Ilios,” said Genji, “It is a highly sought-after wedding destination, after all.”

Mercy snickered, “Yes, but usually there are less mortars being dropped.” 

“True,” said Genji, kissing her on the neck. 

“I’m looking forward to doing something romantic with you that isn’t underscored by gunfire and explosions,” said Mercy, pressing herself against him.

“It’s still early,” said Genji, with a shrug. Mercy snorted.


	11. Childbirth ft. Panicking Uncles and Ninja Fights

Symmetra snickered a little as she watched Genji at Athena’s keyboard, continually switching between different security feeds of the watchpoint. Genji glanced up. “What?” he said.

“You’re antsy,” she said with a smirk.

“I am not ‘antsy,’” muttered Genji, continuing to flick between different feed channels.

“Is this your way of nesting?” said Symmetra, tilting her head.

“Angela and I will be in Switzerland for three months,” said Genji, standing up and glancing away from the screen, “I don’t want anything to happen to this place while we’re gone.” He paused and then quickly turned his attention back to the screen and flicked through all the security feeds again.

“We will manage just fine,” said Symmetra, “You should relax. Go… meditate or spend time with Angela or whatever it is you do. It won’t be long until you don’t have any time to yourself.”

“Hm,” Genji seemed unconvinced.

Symmetra sighed, constructed a seat of hard-light, and sat down. “To be honest, while I believe you and Angela should do as you see fit and I understand your reasoning, Switzerland is awfully far away.”

“Well, Doctor Haberlin is one of the world’s leading obstetricians and a good friend of Angela’s, and Angela’s uncle’s old house is lovely and out of the way but not too far from Thun and—”

“I know, I know,” said Symmetra, “And I know you two will probably be terribly busy with the little one, but do try and stay in contact. Fareeha will want pictures immediately and—” Symmetra’s prosthetic made a low-pitched buzzing sound and Symmetra raised an eyebrow and brought up a projection of one of her sentry turrets. The projection suddenly turned red and blipped out of sight and Symmetra’s brow furrowed.

“Turret destroyed,” she said it mostly as a knee-jerk reaction at this point.

“Where was that?’ said Genji.

“Move,” said Symmetra, stepping past him and typing out several things on Athena’s keyboard, bringing up a security feed of what looked like a sea cave with several cement and steel structures built into it.

“You had sentry turrets in the watchpoint’s old amphibious entrance?” said Genji.

“I put them up during Tracer’s wedding and never bothered to take them down,” said Symmetra, frowning as they both watched the completely empty sea cave on the feed, “But unless they were destroyed, they should have been active indefinitely,” she made Athena change through several different security cameras around the cave and the maintenance tunnels and garage attached to it.

“Maybe a macaque got… zapped by it and threw a rock at it?” said Genji.

Symmetra shook her head, “My sentry turrets are programmed for human and omnic hostiles only.” She continued rotating the camera feed to look around the sea cave but found nothing. “Perhaps a malfunction?” she murmured.

“I could go investigate,” said Genji.

“You should be getting back to Angela,” said Symmetra, sternly.

“I will,” said Genji, “But this won’t take too long.”

—-

“Here, Doc, lemme carry that for you,” said McCree as Mercy moved to pick up her suitcase.

“Honestly, Jesse,” said Mercy with a roll of her eyes as McCree took the suitcase, “It isn’t that heavy.”

“We’re in the final stretch,” said McCree, carrying the suitcase to the front of her apartment, “You gotta take it easy. Having Roadhog’s gut doesn’t make _you_ Roadhog, y’know.”

“Oh I’m Roadhog now?” said Mercy,

McCree paused then snickered, “I mean, it would make a funny picture. Get some of those tattoo pens or somethin’…”

“I’m not drawing a _flaming pig_ over my stomach,” said Mercy.

“But you and Roadie both got the ‘eject now’ button and everything!” said McCree.

“Jesse!” Mercy put her hands on her hips.

“Fine, fine,” said McCree setting the suitcase down by her front door, “You’re no fun.” McCree paused and glanced down at the suitcase, “We are gonna miss you two though.”

“You have the Orca,” said Mercy, smiling, “We’d love for you to come visit.”

“I might just take you up on that offer, Doc,” said McCree, “Love to see what a baby looks like with those Shimada eyebrows.”

Mercy snickered. A knock came at the door and she opened it to find Hanzo, standing a bit awkwardly on the front step with a bag in one hand. “Oh–” he cleared his throat, “Hello.”

“Hey darlin’,” said McCree, leaning against the doorframe.

Hanzo gave a nod and a slight smile to McCree, then looked to Mercy. “You and Genji are… all packed?”

Mercy nodded.

Hanzo held out the bag he was holding to Mercy. “I realize it’s a bit early for dinner, but I thought you and Genji might not want to bother with cooking, seeing as you’re leaving tomorrow.” He glanced over Mercy’s shoulder, “Is Genji with you?”

“Oh just going over some security things for the Watchpoint,” said Mercy, gesturing for him to come in, “I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”

—

The sea cave entrance to the watchpoint was mainly meant for launching boats out to retrieve satellites and ships that had fallen into the ocean, and for launching vehicles in the event of a local attack on Gibraltar itself, and since the Orca served as the primary means of swift transport on and off the watchpoint, and the satellite launch tower didn’t operate as much as it used to, the sea cave hardly saw any use. The amphibious entrance featured several cement docks, and large garage that lead into a network of maintenance tunnels for the Watchpoint. The ocean’s roar bounced off of the cave walls as Genji came down a set of stairs to the empty docks.

“See anything?” Symmetra spoke over the comm.

“Nothing so far,” said Genji, walking around the docks and noting the numerous sentry turrets placed around.

“Hm, another one of my turrets activated, but stopped. They didn’t fire at you, did they?”

“No, none of them fired at me,” said Genji, “Where was it?”

“Deeper into the maintenance tunnels,” said Symmetra.

“I suppose that’s where I’m going then,” said Genji, turning and heading past the docks.

A hiss of static filled the comm channel when Symmetra spoke next. “Well–It–probabl–if—”

“Symmetra?” Genji tapped the side of his helmet with his fingers to get the comm to work better, “You’re cutting out. I can’t—” Genji recognized there wasn’t much use talking into static. He’d just check out the entrance to the sub-levels and and check back in once he got back into comm range. He walked past the remains of one of Overwatch’s old amphibious vehicles that Torbjorn had cannibalized months ago, into an area full of emptied shipping crates.

Genji thought he saw something move in the shadows. With a flick of his wrist he had three shuriken at the ready. There was still static in his ear and Symmetra’s voice was completely gone, so he shut off the comm channel to hear better. He waited. He listened through the roar of the ocean echoing off of the cave walls. Mindlessly, his other hand went to his wakizashi. He was listening for breathing, for footsteps, but heard nothing. Then he heard something, a whistling of blades through the air. In a second his wakizashi was drawn and deflecting each of the blades before the could strike him as he leapt to dodge, sending them flying off and embedding themselves in the cement of the cave walls. Genji’s visor and heat sinks glowed in the darkness as he looked around.

“All right,” he said, letting his shuriken slide back into the plates on his wrist but not sheathing his wakizashi, “I know you’re there now. I would like to avoid a fight if possible.”

Three small circular lights illuminated themselves in the upper right periphery of his vision. Genji turned on his heel to see a figure drop down from an upper corner of the cave ceiling where they were wedging themselves. The figure slowly rose to their feet and drew a tantō as Genji looked upon their face.

“An omnic?” said Genji, not lowering his blade. An assassin, Genji could recognize it instantly. The choice in weapons was telling as well. The Shimada clan had to have sent him. Instantly anxiety had his stomach in knots. What did the Shimada clan know? Could they have sent the assassin here for him? For Angela? _“We both know all too well what they are willing to resort to for the sake of power,”_ he remembered Hanzo’s voice, _“If they catch word of another heir to the main branch of the Shimada line–”_ No. He couldn’t think about that. His grip tightened on his wakizashi.

“And what are you supposed to be?” said the omnic. The question lifted a great deal of weight off of Genji’s shoulders. The omnic didn’t recognize him. Of course he didn’t. Who would? For all the Shimada clan knew, Genji Shimada was dead.

Genji glanced down at himself and shrugged. “Does it really matter to you?” he asked the Omnic. The omnic scoffed. “Why are you here?” said Genji.

“I have come here for Hanzo Shimada. I have no quarrel with you,” said the Omnic.

“Hanzo Shimada?” Genji repeated. Genji almost felt relief until the immediate realization that this was yet another assassin sent after Hanzo hit him. He didn’t want to deal with this. In 12 hours, he and Angela were going to be on the Orca to Switzerland. In two weeks they would be holding their child in a sunlit hospital room in Thun and everything would be fine. He turned his comm channel back on so that Symmetra or anyone listening might hear. Still only static. Fine. No backup. He could do this. He could do this without a fight. Ninja were trained in more than one art of deception after all.

“Ah, I am sorry to disappoint then,” said Genji, lowering his wakizashi with a slight bow, “I believe you’ve arrived too late. I have already taken care of Hanzo Shimada.”

“You?” The omnic tilted his head.

“The Shimada clan does not like to take chances,” said Genji with a dismissive wave of his hand, “I thought they were sending me prematurely but…Ah I suppose these things cannot be helped. You will be reimbursed for your efforts, I’m sure.”

The Omnic paused. “Hanzo Shimada has been evading and killing his assassins for years. How did you manage to do it?”

“Neurotoxin-dipped shuriken,” Genji said, putting his hands on his hips, “I would show you, but I would like to avoid the other inhabitants of this base before they become aware of my presence and believe me, my poison does not leave a pretty corpse.”

“Hm,” this gave the Omnic pause, “Doubtful.”

“Doubtful?” said Genji.

“You are an ally of Hanzo Shimada, or a protector of this base, or both, and have come to stop me,” said the omnic.

“And what makes you so sure of that?” said Genji, folding his arms.

The omnic pointed with his tantō. “That sentry turret hasn’t fired on you at all.”

Genji glanced off in the direction of where the blade was pointing to see a small sentry turret about two feet from his ankle. “… _kuso,_ ” he said softly as the omnic leapt to attack him.

—-

“Still not getting him?” said McCree as Mercy attempted to ring up Genji’s comm channel again.

“I don’t understand,” muttered Mercy, taking a bite right out of the takeout box, “He usually answers,” she said, with her mouth half-full, “I don’t want to have to eat without him.”

“Uh, Doc,” McCree pointed down and Mercy realized she had already taken down more than half of her food.

“ _Verdammt,_ ” muttered Mercy.

“Hey, it’s cool, eatin’ for two and all that,” said McCree with a shrug, leaning against the kitchen counter. “You and Genji still hush-hush on the name?”

“Yes,” said Mercy.

“Inori,” guessed Hanzo.

“No,” said Mercy with smile.

“Damn, I was pretty sure that time,” muttered Hanzo.

“Jessie,” said McCree, “With an ‘I E.’”

“No,” Mercy and Hanzo said at the same time.

“What about Wren?” said McCree.

“Wren?” repeated Hanzo.

“I like ‘Wren,’” said McCree, “Plus, like… y’know, ‘Sparrow’ and ‘Wren,’ that sort of thing.”

Hanzo chuckled a little, “That’s more thought than you usually put into names.”

“And it’s actually closer than most of your other guesses,” said Mercy.

“Wh–Seriously? How close?” said McCree.

Mercy just smirked.

“Aw come on, Doc, don’t be like that,” said McCree as Mercy turned her attention back to her comm and attempted to ring up Genji again.

“Still no word back,” muttered Mercy. She paused and blinked a few times, her hand going over her stomach.

“Kicking again?” said McCree.

Mercy shook her head and waved her hand. “Just another Braxton Hicks,” she said.

“Braxton who now?” said McCree.

“Braxton Hicks contractions,” said Hanzo, “They occur throughout a normal pregnancy, getting more intense toward the end.”

McCree elbowed Hanzo, “Someone’s been doing some reading,” he said with a snicker.

Hanzo cleared his throat, “It’s common knowledge,” he said. McCree folded his arms and smirked, prompting Hanzo to add, a bit more hesitantly, “And… seeing as it _is_ my niece I figured some research couldn’t hurt.”

“Yes well…I’m sure frequent bathroom trips occurred in your research as well,” said Mercy, I’ll be right back.”

“Sure thing,” said McCree as Mercy headed off toward the bathroom, leaving McCree and Hanzo in the kitchen. McCree chuckled a little and glanced over at Hanzo. “You can say it, you know.”

“Say what?” said Hanzo.

“Say you don’t want them to go to Switzerland,” said McCree, folding his arms, “You can keep up that ‘aloof and detached’ air all you want, but I know you, darlin’.”

“Switzerland is objectively the best decision they can make. The watchpoint is still a potential target. Angela’s still-living relatives are trustworthy. Doctor Haberlin is—”

“Let me guess… you did research on Haberlin too?” said McCree.

“Why wouldn’t I?” said Hanzo, “It isn’t that I don’t trust Genji or Angela’s decision making—”

“But you’re gonna do hours of research to make sure it’s the right decision anyway,” said McCree with a smirk.

Hanzo flushed a bit. “Yes, well…it doesn’t hurt,” he said. He furrowed his brow and rubbed his forehead. “Genji’s life has been—I’ve made Genji’s life—”

“Don’t start with that,” said McCree, putting a hand on Hanzo’s shoulder.

Hanzo sighed and put his hand over McCree’s, holding it there. “It is the best decision they can make. What I want is irrelevant. Something should go right for him–for _both_ of them, for once.”

It was then that a shriek came from the bathroom.

“Doc?” McCree was rushing down the hall in a heartbeat, “Doc what’s—?”

“ _Scheisse–scheisse scheisse scheisse—!_ ” Mercy was cursing on the other side of the door.

“Doc!” McCree knocked on the bathroom door urgently.

“My water broke!” Mercy shrieked on the other side of the door.

“What–? Are–Are you sure?” McCree said.

“No, I’m just standing in a puddle of amniotic fluid for fun– _Yes, I’m fucking sure!_ ” Mercy’s voice was cracking. She seemed to be attempting to catch her breath. “Get my comm,” she managed, “Now.”

“Okay, you got it–Hanzo!” McCree called, but only heard the click of the front door, “Hanzo?” McCree ran back to the living room to find Hanzo gone, “Shit–Not a good time, to pull the mysterious ninja escape, darlin’” muttered McCree, rushing to the kitchen to grab Mercy’s comm and quickly heading to the bathroom. He knocked on the door and it opened a crack and Mercy snatched the comm from his hand and was silent on the other side of the door for several seconds.

“I still can’t reach him,” she seemed calm but at the same time there was something terrified in her voice, “Why can’t I reach him?”

“Look, spotty comms happen all the time. I’m sure he’s fine,” said McCree.

—

Genji was slammed hard into the cement wall, both hands gripping his wakizashi to keep it blocking the omnic’s tantō. He shoved forward hard with his leg, knocking the omnic back and allowing himself time to breathe. He really had to stop forgetting how physically strong omnics could be. The omnic’s next attacks were rapid, unpredictable, the omnic easily switching between a normal and reversed grip on his tantō as needed. One strike came far too close for comfort, sparking along the edge of his blade with Genji only narrowly able to block it long enough to duck down and rush past with another sparking block against the omnic’s tantō. Genji had to get back into comm range. He had to alert the Watchpoint. The omnic seemed to immediately pick up on this as well, and rushed after him, then swore as Symmetra’s sentry turrets shot at him in his pursuit, and was forced to destroy the turrets shooting at him, allowing Genji more time to put distance between them. He raced back to the entrance of the cave and brought his hand to the side of his helmet as the hiss of static gave way to half-cut out voices.

“Genji?” Mercy’s voice filled his comm.

“Angela?” Genji said, ducking down as several shuriken flew overhead.

“Genji! I’ve been trying to get in contact with you for a while now—”

“Angela–” Genji dipped out of the way of several more shuriken, “I would love to talk but—”

“Genji, it’s starting.”

“What’s star–” Genji’s visor suddenly brightened, “Really? This early? Are you all right?” He leapt over several crates and dipped down as more shuriken flew past him.

“I’m fine but… I need you here,” said Mercy, “Where are you?”

“I’ll be there as soon as I–” Genji saw several more shuriken flying towards his head and brought up his wakizashi to deflect them. The ringing sounds of metal on metal filled the air as he sprang back up and kept running out of the maintenance tunnels.

“What was that?” said Mercy.

Genji couldn’t respond, he was running, ducking more shuriken, then skidding to a halt as he reached the entrance to the sea cave and nearly ran right off the cement dock and into the water. He turned and was forced to block a hard flying kick from the omnic with a grunt.

“Genji, are you _fighting?_ ” said Mercy.

Suddenly the omnic was rushing him again and Genji was blocking strikes from the tantō left and right. “I really,” Genji blocked a strike, “ _Really_ wish I could say ‘no.’” He moved to attack now, forcing the omnic back with a flurry of his own strikes. “Send backup to the amphibious entrance—”

“I’ll send Hanzo to—” Mercy started.

“Do _not_ send Hanzo,” said Genji, leaping atop the omnic’s swinging tantō then forcing the omnic back with a hard kick to the face, which the omnic easily recovered from.

“So you are an ally of Hanzo,” said the omnic, as he was knocked back, his metal feet sparking across the cement, from the force of Genji’s strike, he immediately threw several shuriken, forcing Genji to dodge off to the side, “He is unworthy of your skill.”

“Was that a compliment?” said Genji.

“Loyalty means nothing to Hanzo Shimada,” said the Omnic, now moving forward and forcing Genji back with several strikes from his tantō, “He murdered his own brother for the sake of the clan, only to abandon them.”

“How terrible,” said Genji, blocking and dodging the strikes.

“This is why the Shimada clan sent me,” said the Omnic, “Because Hanzo has no honor, and family means nothing to him.”

—-

Hanzo burst back through the door of the apartment carrying a large duffel bag. “Nobody panic! I’m here!” he announced, rushing down the hallway.

“Where’ve you been?” said McCree.

“Getting this,” said Hanzo, opening up the duffel and pulling out a loose dress and some other clothing, “Angela–I have a change of clothes for you. The car is running outside. Have you been able to get in contact with—”

“Genji’s in trouble,” said Mercy, sticking an arm out of the bathroom door and grabbing the clothes Hanzo was holding out for her.

“What?” said Hanzo.

“We’ve already put word in with Symm. She’s sending some backup to him right now,” said McCree.

“I still don’t know if sending in Zenyatta alone is enough,” said Mercy on the other side of the door.

“Have a little faith, Doc,” said McCree.

“I need to get to Athena,” said Mercy, walking out of the bathroom wearing the clothes Hanzo had handed her, “I need to make sure Genji’s—” She grunted and buckled over, gripping her stomach, her breath catching in her throat.

“Okay, yeah doc, we’re getting you to the infirmary,” said McCree, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“This shouldn’t be happening!” snapped Mercy, managing to get herself back up to an upright position, “This wasn’t supposed to happen for another two weeks!”

“Well…it’s…uh, happening,” said McCree, “Come on. Let’s get you to that car.”

Mercy had one hand on the wall as she made her way to the front of the apartment.

McCree glanced over his shoulder at Hanzo, who pulled a cheap towel from the duffel and threw it on the floor of Genji and Mercy’s bathroom before turning and looking at McCree. “What?”

“Just what have you got in that bag?” said McCree.

Hanzo shrugged and walked past him after Mercy. “Necessities.”

“Necessities?” said McCree.

“Changes of clothes, blankets, camera, baby clothes…” Hanzo said, his voice dropped a bit, “Spare shuriken, biotic canisters, blaster ammunition, counterfeit travel visas and identification…”

McCree whistled as they caught up with Mercy. “Only you would prep for a baby _and_ the end of the world. How’d you get all that together in under 10 minutes?”

Hanzo cleared his throat, “I’ve… had it ready for the past three weeks,” said Hanzo.

Mercy stopped walking. “You’ve _what?_ ” she said, turning on her heel.

“I thought it best to be prepared. Shimada are… notoriously precocious,” said Hanzo, opening the car door for her.

Mercy looked at him, eyes wide.

“What?” said Hanzo.

“Nothing just…” Mercy managed a short chuckle, before getting into the car, “Genji said the same thing.” She paused, “I hope he’s all right…a quick visit to the Athena’s surveillance room couldn’t hur—”

“Doc,” said McCree, getting into the front seat and slamming the front door, “He’s got backup. You got enough to worry about as is with your kid jumping the gun. Just… I dunno, breathe or whatever.”

—

Genji knocked the Omnic’s tantō from his hand and sent it clattering across the floor. Genji pointed his wakizashi at his opponent. “Leave this place.”

“I have a contract,” said the Omnic. A plate in the omnic’s forearm slid back and a blade extending about a hand’s length past the tips of the omnic’s own fingers clicked out.

“Ah,” Genji now found himself dipping back and blocking strikes from the new blade. The new blade he realized was designed for close quarters, even more so than the tantō. “You realize Hanzo is an archer, right?” said Genji, blocking another strike from the omnic and advanced forward. The omnic grunted and slashed at Genji, and Genji dipped back maddeningly out of his reach. “How would you expect get close enough to use your weapons effectively?”

“Shut up,” said the Omnic, his voice was half drowned out by the roar of the ocean echoing against the cave walls.

“You know,” said Genji leaping back several times, “It would not be the first time the Shimada clan got rid of one potential threat by pitting it against another.”

“Shut _up,_ ” the omnic slashed forward and overextended himself, allowing Genji to dip to the side and deliver a hard strike with the butt of his wakizashi at the Omnic’s forearm. In one fluid movement Genji drew his sword and slashed down through the Omnic’s forearm blade, slicing it cleanly off. Genji took advantage of the Omnic’s shock at this to dip down and swipe the Omnic’s legs out from underneath him before springing up and delivering a hard kick to the chest. This sent the omnic flying back, he attempted to recover in mid air, only to find himself splashing into the water. Suddenly all the omnic’s calm seemed completely gone as he flailed in the water but quickly sank. Genji took a calming breath. Knowing Omnics, the assassin would probably scramble out by clinging to the cement walls of the dock or climbing along the underwater walls of the cave, but he had time to catch his breath. He sheathed his sword and brought a hand to the side of his helmet.

“Symmetra,” he spoke on the comm channel, “What’s the status on my backu–” There was a small splashing sound and Genji felt something painful wrap around his ankle and and glanced down to see a weighted wire had wrapped itself around it. He brought up his wakizashi to cut it but suddenly his foot was yanked out from underneath him and he was pulled into the water.

—

Hanzo watched Mercy bite the inside of her lip and furrow her brow as McCree drove them across the Watchpoint towards the infirmary. She brought up her comm again and attempted to ring up Genji, but was only met with silence on the other end. She closed her eyes, sighed and slumped against her seat, interlacing her fingers in front of her and pressing her knuckles to her lips. Hanzo wondered if she was praying or if that was simply a mindless mannerism from the stress.

“He’s fine, Doc, I’m sure of it,” said McCree.

“I hope you’re right,” said Mercy. She sighed and leaned her head against the window. “Why did this have to happen today?” she said quietly, “Why did _this_ have to happen today?” she gestured down at her stomach.

Hanzo was quiet for a few moments before saying, “Did… Genji ever tell you he was born early?”

Mercy blinked a few times, “No,” she said.

Hanzo scoffed. “Of course he didn’t,” he muttered. He then glanced over at Mercy to see her furrowed brow at him and then cleared his throat a bit awkwardly, “I mean…Of course it’s not like he would remember it.” Mercy grunted and her hand went over her stomach again. “He was even earlier than yours is,” Hanzo went on, clearly trying to distract her from the pain, “They had to keep him under observation. Father was terrified. The first time i saw him he was in an incubator. I thought he was hideous–a wrinkled pink little monster. But then… I suppose I was jealous of how much attention he was getting,” he chuckled a bit, “I don’t think that ever stopped.”

Mercy managed to smile. “I was the opposite,” she said, tucking her hair back, “I think… I remember my mother told me I was pretty late. Very late, actually. Made her miserable, in fact. She said she planted daffodil bulbs to, as she put it, ‘Get me moving,’” Mercy paused, “At least… that’s what it said in one of her old diaries. I don’t know if she ever said it to me, or if I just… imagined the memory. I hear her voice sometimes but…” she shook her head, “I don’t know what kind of mother I’m going to be if I can barely remember my own.”

“You’re gonna do fine, you know,” said McCree.

“It’s already gone completely off the rails, though,” said Mercy with a pained chuckle and a slight shake in her voice.

“Well yeah, but considering our line of work, that’s not that unusual,” said McCree, “And it ain’t nothing we can’t handle.”

Mercy smiled,  “Thank you for being so calm about this,” she said, looking down.

“Aw come on, Doc, you know me,” said McCree, “Beneath my charming, roguish, and _ruggedly handsome_ exterior—”

Hanzo scoffed.

“I’m gotdamn terrified,” said McCree, “I don’t just wear the hat because it’s lucky or because I look damn good in it. It hides the sweat.” They pulled up to the infirmary. “Look sharp doc,” said McCree, getting out of the car. He noted the concern on Mercy’s face. “Merce–He’s going to be fine. He’s getting backup right now. You worry about yourself, you hear?”

–

Genji was a strong enough swimmer, but the omnic’s pull was even stronger in yanking him down beneath the surface. He felt the heat sinks in his shoulders click air-tight, but the faceplate of his helmet filled with water and his eyes stung with salt. The wire unwrapped itself from his foot and Genji desperately looked around in the dark water as he swam to the surface, only to see those three lights in the Omnic’s head shoot toward him. The omnic rammed into him, pinning him against the cement of the dock while the surface of the water was only an arm’s length away, his fingers barely able to break the surface. He felt the weight of the wire on his neck. It could cut through normal human flesh, he realized, but for him it would have to serve as a garrote. Genji coughed on the water filling his faceplate as his hands struggled at the wire and he wondered for a brief mad second if he would die here, in a cave, in dark water. His mind went to Angela, to Hanzo, Zenyatta, McCree, to his family and without a second thought he thrust his wakizashi into the omnic’s stomach. The lights on the omnic’s head flickered and Genji immediately realized stabbing a robot while underwater was a bad idea.

His armor had some shock resistance, and his organic parts were also heavily insulated with cybernetic grafts capable of directing shock away from his organic body, however, that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt like hell. The omnic fell away from him and was sinking and Genji shoved off of him with his foot. His arm broke the surface and he grabbed the edge of the cement dock and yanked himself up and out of the water. Scrambling on hands and knees, he turned around to look into the water, to see the three lights on the omnic’s head fading into the dark and distance as he sank. Genji nearly breathed a sigh of relief, then realized his faceplate was still full of water, and he quickly and desperately pressed at the pressure catches in the back of his helmet to pull his faceplate off. He coughed up seawater then collapsed on his side, aching and exhausted. He had to get up. He had to see Angela, but his limbs didn’t seem to be listening to him. There was a soft chiming sound and suddenly the pain seemed to ebb away. Genji glanced up to see an orb of harmony hovering above him.

“My apologies for my lateness, my student,” Zenyatta’s voice came to him and Genji struggled to sit up.

“Master…” Genji said, “Thank you.”

“It appears you handled yourself very well without me,” said Zenyatta.

Genji managed a pained chuckle, “You have a generous idea of ‘Very well,’ Master,” Genji’s eyes widened, “Angela–Is Angela—?”

“You still have time,” said Zenyatta, holding a hand out to Genji to help him to his feet, “Your brother and McCree have seen her safely to the infirmary. I suggest we—” There was the sound of splashing behind them and Genji and Zenyatta turned around to see the omnic assassin pulling himself out of the water with a grunt.

“You did not…” the omnic’s voice was distorted by water damage, “Strike to kill.” He brought up several shuriken. “I will not make the same mista—”

Zenyatta sent an orb of discord shooting over and it hovered over the omnic. The omnic glanced up at it confusedly. “What is tha—”

Zenyatta sent three orbs of destruction in quick succession, each smacking the omnic assassin squarely in the head. He swayed, then fell backward into the water with a dense splash.

“A lesson in humility,” said Zenyatta, before turning to Genji, “Does the Shimada clan know?”

Genji shook his head. “He was here for Hanzo.”

“I see,” said Zenyatta, “I will stay here and make sure our unwelcome guest does not return until more backup arri—” Zenyatta suddenly found himself in a tight hug from Genji, “Oh.”

“Thank you, Master,” said Genji.

Zenyatta patted his shoulder. “Of course, my student. Now, I believe you have somewhere to be.”

Genji broke out of the hug and gave Zenyatta a short bow. “Be sure to get to the infirmary as soon as you can,” he said, turning on his heel.

“You have my word,” said Zenyatta as Genji rushed off.

—

In the waiting area outside the main operating floor of the Watchpoint infirmary, Hanzo was pacing. He kept trying to sit down, but found himself getting to his feet and walking around without even thinking about it.

“This is your fault, you know,” said McCree.

“My fault?” said Hanzo, stopping his pacing.

“You jinxed it,” said McCree, folding his arms.

“Excuse me?” said Hanzo.

“All that ‘Something should go right for once,’ stuff. Come on, you definitely jinxed it.”

“That is completely ridiculo—Do you honestly think I could—?” Hanzo scanned McCree’s smirk and his eyes narrowed, “You’re just trying to get under my skin,” he said, frowning.

“You’re pretty tightly wound. You could stand to loosen up,” said McCree.

“I am perfectly calm,” said Hanzo, visibly bristling. Suddenly a door opened behind him, and Hanzo turned on his heel to see Genji, dripping wet, scuffed and scratched, faceplate off, visor up, eyes wide, supporting himself against the doorframe.

“Genji—” Hanzo stepped over to him and looked him over.

“Gotdamn…” said McCree, tilting his hat back.

Genji slumped over, catching his breath, “Angela,” he said, looking up, “How is she–?” Genji started.

“She’s fine. Her and her plus one,” said McCree, “You haven’t missed anything.”

Genji exhaled.

“Can I ask why you’re all wet?” said McCree.

“Assassin,” Genji waved a hand vaguely and moved to walk past them, “Ocean. Taken care of. Unimportant.”

“Well the nurse is probably not gonna be pleased if you roll into the delivery room like that. Better get cleaned up. You got time.”

“Right,” said Genji, “Right.”

“And Genji?” said Hanzo.

“Hm?” Genji glanced over his shoulder.

“Try to remember to breathe,” said Hanzo

“Yes,” said Genji, “Breathing. I’m breathing,” he said as he walked off.

“Good luck!” McCree shouted after him.

—

“Intranatal ultrasound reveals that your baby is in excellent health,” said the nurse, “Weight will be slightly below average, but either Haberlin’s due date was off, or there may be some unforeseen side-effects to the constant stream of biotics from your spinal implants.”

“ _Gott sei Dank,_ ” said Mercy, holding out her arm as the nurse checked her IV’s.

“The time between your contractions is still—” the nurse started but Genji burst through the door. 

“Genji—” Mercy instinctively moved to get up but grunted and sank against the pillows of her bed as Genji rushed over and hugged her tight. She kissed him multiple times, on his scars, where his cybernetic jawline met his skin, and on his lips before holding him tightly again. She suddenly grunted and Genji pulled away as the nurse clicked a timer.

“And that marks the contractions as three minutes apart,” said the nurse, “Looks like you got here just in time.”

“What took you so long?” said Mercy, a bit breathlessly as Genji took her hand.

“Just some family business,” said Genji. 

Mercy chuckled a bit painfully before grunting in pain again.

—

Zenyatta arrived nearly an hour later to see McCree and Hanzo in the waiting area outside the infirmary.

“Hey,” McCree gave him a short wave, “Party crasher taken care of?”

“Yes,” said Zenyatta, “Is everything all right?”

“Well it’s uh… still going,” said McCree with a shrug. 

Hanzo’s arms were folded and he was drumming his fingers on his arm tensely. Zenyatta placed a hand on his shoulder. “Do not worry, my friend. I am sure they are doing very well.”

It was then that a borderline animalistic cry was heard through the door, followed by guttural cursing in German. Genji’s voice could be heard saying something reassuring like “Breathe, breathe, you’re doing fine—” which was cut off with “Genji! I’m a _doctor!_ I _know_ what I’m doing!” Which quickly fell into another long yell. Hanzo looked horrified.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Zenyatta said again.

—

Rei came into the world a screaming pink raisin monster with a head of dark hair. Genji said something in quiet awe, but it was drowned out by the screaming.

“What?” Mercy half-yelled.

“I said she’s beautiful!” Genji half-yelled back.

Rei kept screaming as they cut the chord and toweled her off, then calmed down when she was swaddled and handed to Mercy to nurse as the afterbirth passed out of her. Mercy and Genji sat in silence for nearly an hour, watching her.

“Genji, you should hold her,” said Mercy, when Rei finally broke away from her.

“Oh I—” Genji itched at his scars, “Are–are you sure that’s wise?”

“I should think it would be obvious,” said Mercy with a weak chuckle.

“I just—” Genji glanced off, “Skin-to-skin contact is supposed to be important in the first few hours and I don’t–” he glanced down at his body, “I don’t…” he trailed off.

“You’re warm enough for her,” said Mercy, holding Rei out to him.

“My face–what if I scare her?” said Genji.

“Your face is fine,” said Mercy, insistently holding Rei out to him.

Genji hesitantly took the burrito-wrapped infant from Mercy and supported her head. The baby was, indeed, asleep, but the heat sinks in Genji’s shoulders clicked out and steamed and she stirred and moaned a little and opened small dark gray-blue eyes at him. Genji’s breath caught in his throat.

“Hello,” he said quietly. Rei seemed to consider him. He rubbed at the scars on his face nervously. “Sorry if my face scares you. We can’t all be as pretty as your mother,” he said with a slight chuckle.

“Genji,” Mercy said softly.

“Sorry–” he said then glanced down at Rei, sitting down on the edge of Mercy’s hospital bed. Rei continued staring up at him, then grunted again and closed her eyes. “She’s sleeping?” Genji said quietly.

“Well, newborns are known to do that,” said Mercy, smiling.

A smile tugged at the corner of Genji’s mouth. “I’m sorry this couldn’t go like we planned,” he said quietly.

“When has anything ever gone like we planned?” said Mercy.

Genji shrugged. “Fair point,” he said, before glancing back down at Rei. “I think we did well.”

Mercy leaned forward and kissed him on the temple. She glanced down and readjusted the blanket around Rei slightly. “I think we did well, too,” she said.


	12. Uncles

_Hanzo was three years old and in a slightly too-bright hospital room._

_Sojiro moved a Hanzo up on his hip a little bit so that Hanzo could see into the NICU isolette better. The figure inside was small, face partially covered by a piece of tape securing a breathing tube into his nostril._

_“He’s ugly,” said Hanzo._

_“Hanzo!” Sojiro spoke sharply, “Don’t talk about your brother like that!”_

_“But he_ is _ugly,” said Hanzo, frowning. He looked back into isolette. “Why is he in the box?” Hanzo asked._

_Sojiro sighed and smoothed his hair back. “Your little brother was so excited to see you, he came into the world before he was ready. So now he needs to stay in the box to stay warm and so they can make sure his heart stays beating until the doctors say he’s okay.”_

_Hanzo’s brow furrowed. “That’s stupid,” he said, “He’s stupid.”_

_“He’s not stupid, he’s your brother. And since you’re a big brother now, he’s going to be counting on you. You have to be good, because he’s going to look up to you, do you understand?”_

_“I don’t like him,” said Hanzo._

_Sojiro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Hanzo…” he said, clearly exhausted at this point._

“Hanzo?” Genji’s voice cut through the memory sharply and Hanzo sat up in his seat a bit. Genji was still holding out a blanket-wrapped Rei to him.

“What?” said Hanzo.

“I said, ‘Would you like to hold her?’”said Genji, holding Rei out to him.

“Oh–I—” Hanzo glanced down at the infant, who was asleep in her blankets, then he glanced back over Genji’s shoulder to Angela who gave him a nod. Hanzo cleared his throat and held his arms out, “Yes.”

“You, uh… got pretty far away there for a minute there, darlin’,” said McCree, as Genji handed the baby over to Hanzo.

“Yes…well…” Hanzo trailed off, looking down at the infant. She was still a pink and slightly wrinkled thing, with fine dark hairs peeking out from underneath a white and periwinkle baby beanie. “Rei?” He repeated the name.

“Yes, Rei,” said Genji.

“So I _was_ close with ‘Wren!’” said McCree, grinning.

“Closer than most of your other guesses.”

“Well of course it was the closest when 75 percent of your other guesses were variations on ‘Jesse,’” said Hanzo, glancing sidelong at McCree who just snickered and shrugged. Hanzo turned his attention back to Rei. “She’s…” Hanzo trailed off again.

“‘Cute,’ darlin’,” said McCree, “The word you’re lookin’ for is ‘cute.’”

“Yes,” Hanzo said, not breaking his eyes away from Rei. He moved to adjust the blanket around her slightly, when his eyes fell on the dragon tattoo that crept up his wrist from his arm. A Shimada. There was another Shimada in the world and all the danger that came with it. And yet somehow, right now, the entire world seemed warm and muted around him. He could make out Genji talking excitedly with McCree and Angela’s still-tired laughs underscoring it. He forced himself to snap out of the haze and glanced back up at Genji and Mercy. “You…” he cleared his throat, “You did good work.”

Genji snorted. “Angela did most of the work,” he said, itching at one of his scars from where he was sitting at the edge of Angela’s infirmary bed. Angela chuckled and gave his leg an affectionate nudge with her foot.

 “You helped,” she said with a grin.

“I helped a little,” said Genji with a shrug.

 Hanzo glanced up from Rei to see McCree leaning against him slightly with a stupid beautiful grin on his face. 

Hanzo held Rei out to him. McCree blinked a few times, “Aw, come on, _you’re_ the uncle,” said McCree.

“It’s all right, Jesse,” said Mercy and McCree sat up in his seat and took his hat off. He took Rei from Hanzo.

“Hey there,” said McCree, looking at Rei, “Look at you, huh?” McCree squinted a little, “I think she’s got your nose, Doc,” he said. 

“That’s what I said!” Genji said, a bit excitedly, before realizing Rei was still asleep and catching himself. Mercy snickered a little. Rei stirred in McCree’s arms.

“Oh–Okay, hey–” McCree started but Rei grunted and then whined and made one of those short noises that was a precursor to a cry. “Okay then, time to get back to Mom,” said McCree, standing up and stepping over to Mercy, who took Rei from him with a grin and soft affectionate words in German.

“I think she’s hungry,” said Mercy, adjusting herself in bed a bit.

“Guess we should give you guys some space, huh?” said McCree, folding his arms.

 Mercy shrugged, “You can stay if you want,” she said, adjusting the neckline of her hospital gown.

“Nah, you guys probably need some rest,” said McCree, “Family bonding and all that.”

“We’ll see you both soon, right?” said Mercy as Rei stuck a chubby fist out of the blanket and against her collarbone.

“Of course,” said Hanzo as he and McCree exited the infirmary.

–

“Still surreal, ain’t it?” said McCree as they headed out of the infirmary. Hanzo was looking down. McCree elbowed him gently. “Hey. Darlin’. You in there?”

Hanzo blinked several times and shook his head. “Sorry–what were you saying?”

McCree grinned, “I’ll take that as a ‘Yes,’ I’m guessing.” 

“I… I’m sorry,” Hanzo said, rubbing his forehead.

They headed out into the sunlight and McCree started rolling a cigarette. “I’d ask if you want to talk about it, but you seem to be having a tough time just talking at all.”

“That–That’s Genji’s child. Genji has a _child,_ ” said Hanzo, “He’s _alive_ and he’s…” Hanzo exhaled.

“Y’know, eight hours ago you were all ‘Mission: Impossible’ with this kid and now you’re…” McCree made a waving motion next to his head and Hanzo couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“I suppose there’s theory, and then there’s practice,” said Hanzo, “Holding her it just hit me that…” he chuckled, “If you told me three years ago that I would be holding my niece… there’s no way I would have believed you. Never could I have seen myself here, and yet, here I am.”

McCree swung an arm around his shoulders, “Not a bad place to be, I hope?” he said.

Hanzo half-scoffed and half-chuckled as McCree planted a kiss on his temple. “No, not bad,” he said, smiling.


	13. Ohaka Mairi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone requested a followup to this [Ohaka Mairi ficlet](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9767903/chapters/22987269) with Rei. Rei's a couple months old here.

“We have to keep this short,” said Hanzo. McCree wasn’t facing the grave, but rather nervously looking around the cemetery for any new cars pulling up. McCree put a finger to his ear again.

“Zen,” said McCree, “Still no movement?”

“There remains no sign of any vehicles,” said Zenyatta over the comm, “It has been two minutes since you last asked that.”

“Right, sorry,” said McCree.

Genji and Hanzo worked quickly, picking weeds and raking away dead leaves and branches and fallen ume blossom petals. Mercy looked on, Rei against her hip in one arm, and a bouquet in the other. Rei was babbling and attempting to grab at the flowers in her mother’s other hand when a breeze shook the branches of the ume tree, prompting a brief shower of dark pink petals. Rei let out a delighted shriek and reached a chubby hand up to grab at the falling petals.

“Doc, we’re risking enough just being here without the kid,” said McCree as Mercy cooed and said soft words in German to get Rei to quiet down a bit.

“I know,” said Mercy, moving Rei up on her hip a bit.

“She needs to see her home,” said Hanzo.

“She’s got a home back _home_ ,” said McCree, “And it ain’t like she’s even got object permanence yet. She’s not exactly going to remember this.”

“We don’t even know if we’ll be able to visit when she can,” said Mercy.

“This isn’t just for her,” said Genji, taking Rei from Mercy. This immediately quieted McCree. 

Genji grabbed a wooden ladle out of a bucket of water next to the grave. This seemed to sufficiently distract Rei from the falling petals and she reached out for it. Genji allowed her to put a hand on the handle of the ladle as he poured water over the grave. “These are your grandparents,” he said, pointing to each grave with the ladle as he poured water over them, “ _Obāsan. Ojisan_ ,” he looked at Rei, “Do you understand?” Rei just babbled and put her hands on his face. “ _Obāsan,_ ” Genji said again, “Can you say ‘ _Obāsan?_ ’”

“Ba,” Rei pressed one of her tiny palms against Genji’s eyebrow then gave his forehead a few good smacks with her other hand, “Ba. Ba. Ba.”

“Well she’s…close?” said Mercy.

Genji sighed and looked at Mercy, adjusting Rei against him so she couldn’t smack his face as much, “I thought you said she said ‘ _Oma_ ’ once when you were talking about your mother,” he said.

“I also said that could have been gas,” said Mercy, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“Zen?” McCree was putting his finger to his ear again, “Any movement?”

“A warrior’s greatest weapon is patience,” Zenyatta spoke over the comms, “Patience… and the knowledge that if I saw anything _I would let you know._ ”

“Sorry,” McCree said again and Mercy gave Genij a look that indicated that they really should get moving soon. Genji cleared his throat and looked from Rei to the grave. 

“Heh. The time constraints don’t exactly help,” said Genji, unsure if he was talking to Rei or to his parents. He looked at Rei. “I wish there was a simple way to explain to you what you are,” he looked to the grave, “What you are a part of.” Rei just went “Ba” again and reached out at Genji’s face. Genji chuckled a little then itched at one of his scars, “How do I put this? Your family is… it’s…well…”

“Complicated?” suggested Mercy.

“Messy,” said Hanzo.

“Weird,” said McCree.

“Yes,” said Genji, “It’s all those things. But…I know if they got the chance to know you that they would love you,” He gave a glance to the grave, “You would love her,” he said to the headstones. “What they would _want_ for you is… concerning,” he said, “They would want the best for you.  They wanted the best for us,” he gave a glance over to Hanzo before looking back at Rei, “The problem was our–their  _idea_ of the best was…” Genji trailed off and watched as Rei took one of his fingers and started gumming it, “It’s going to be a while before you begin to understand any of this,” he said, “I just thought you should see it,” he took a few steps away from the family plot to look down the hill on Hanamura castle, “I thought they should see you,” he said, glancing over his shoulder to Hanzo and Angela placing flowers on the grave.

“A black car has pulled up,” Zenyatta spoke over the comms, “It appears to be civilian, but I cannot be sure.”

“We should probably get going,” said Mercy, standing up.

“No harm in playing it safe,” said McCree.

Hanzo nodded. Genji looked across the three of them. Along with Zenyatta, Genji felt pretty confident going up against anything the remainders of the Shimada clan could throw at them. The criminal empire was all but collapsed, anyway. It was even more than likely that the people in that car were civilians, but it still wasn’t anything he was willing to risk with Rei present. He glanced down at Rei, still gnawing on his finger, and wiped some drool off of her chin with his thumb. “Someday you’re going to come back to this place,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder at Hanamura castle, “You’re going to come back here and we won’t have anything to fear.”

 Rei just shrieked in response.


	14. Back in Black

The shriek came at 3 AM.

“Poop cry or hungry cry?” muttered Mercy, half asleep. Genji waited several seconds. There were a few short grunts, followed by another long wail.

“Poop cry,” said Genji.

“Mm…” Mercy pulled the blankets off of him and around herself. Poop cries were his job, hungry cries were Mercy’s. They were trying to get Rei to feed more regularly in the mornings, however at this point they were taking whatever they could get to get Rei to go back to sleep. Genji sat up, rubbing at his eyes and pulled himself out of bed, muttering in Japanese as he got to his feet and made his way towards the nursery. 

He only reached the doorway of his and Mercy’s room when Rei stopped wailing and he stopped dead. He was in the hallway of the apartment, with Rei’s room across the way and Ryū Ichimonji on its stand in the hallway. The sudden cessation in Rei’s wail filled the pit of his stomach with dread and he grabbed his wakizashi off of the stand. He moved slowly across the hallway, shifting the wakizashi into a reversed grip as he did so. He reached the doorway of Rei’s room and his breath caught in his throat. There was a a dark figure standing over the crib. He heard a soft babble from Rei but remained tense as the dark figure turned around, Rei in his arms.

“Who brings a sword into a nursery?” said Reaper.

“Give her to me,” said Genji, “Now.”

“Tell me you at least don’t have the shuriken loaded into your arm,” said Reaper, still holding Rei.

“I’m giving you to the count of three,” said Genji.

“…can’t imagine you’d sleep with an arm full of them…” Reaper went on, Rei was making soft slightly fussy noises in his arms.

“One,” Genji’s grip tightened on his wakizashi.

“I didn’t come to fight, you know,” said Reaper.

“Two,” Genji bent into a ready position. Reaper stepped forward and held her out to him and Genji quickly took her back, instantly feeling some relief that she was in his arm, but not letting his guard down and keeping his blade leveled at Reaper.

“She needs changing, by the way,” said Reaper. Rei made a murmuring sound and Genji kept his blade pointed at Reaper. 

“Believe me,” said Reaper, “If I had come to kill you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“So why did you come?” said Genji, not lowering his blade.

“You know, I didn’t believe McCree back in Lijiang,” said Reaper, “But then I noticed Doctor Ziegler had been absent from a lot of missions recently and I figured I should look into it.” Rei cooed in Genji’s arms. “Funny,” said Reaper, “Here I thought Doctor Ziegler could only make monsters.”

Genji’s brow furrowed but he knew Reaper was only baiting him, trying to get under his skin. “So what now?” said Genji, rolling his grip on the Wakizashi and glancing down at Rei only briefly.

“Well, at this point, the Doc’s heard me through your monitor and probably alerted most of the Watchpoint so I’ll make this brief,” Reaper gave a glance over to the baby monitor before looking back at Genji, “You’ve brought someone into this. Someone who has no business being in this. I only hope you have more sense about it than others have.” Smoke started flooding around him from the interior of his coat. “Take care. I’m probably not the only one watching,” he said.

Mercy burst through the door with her caduceus blaster at the ready just in time for Reaper to disappear in a wisp of smoke. Her breath was shuddering as she looked over at Genji. “Did he—?”

“I’m fine,” Genji lowered his wakizashi, he readjusted Rei in his other arm slightly, “So is she.”

“They’re coming. Winston and Symmetra are locking down the exits,” she said, “Hanzo is coming, and McCree. They’ll be here soon–He won’t–” Her breath was getting short.

“Breathe,” said Genji, “Breathe.”

She looked down at Rei and then softly cursed under her breath in German. She took Rei from him and looked her over. Rei just cooed and stuck her chubby hands out at her but Mercy’s own breath seemed to be falling away from her. She pressed her forehead against Rei’s, trying to get her own breath under control. Mercy leaned against the wall and sank down to the floor, with Rei grabbing at her hair and making questioning noises. Genji set his Wakizashi down on the dresser next to her blaster before sitting down on the floor next to her himself. He stared at her, holding Rei, trying to breathe. He wanted to tell her everything would be all right, but the fact was he didn’t know if it would. The fear was finally hitting him all at once. He put an arm around her and she leaned against him, still holding Rei. They sat in the dark, waiting for the others to come.


	15. Other Sides and Aftermaths

Mercy didn’t even open her eyes. She wrapped the blankets around herself tight as Genji slipped from the sheets, trying to fall back asleep amidst Rei’s wailing underscored by Genji’s sleepy muttering.  Rei’s crying fell quiet a few moments later and Mercy sighed and sleep had all but enveloped her when she heard a voice over the baby monitor.

“Who brings a sword into a nursery?”

Her eyes snapped open, and for a moment she thought it was some mix of semiconscious nightmare and hypnic jerk, the memory of Reaper mixed with that sensation of falling right before sleep, but then she heard Genji’s voice over the monitor, “Give her to me. Now.”  Mercy sat up and scrambled to the edge of the bed and seized her comm, feverishly typing in a message on the Watchpoint’s emergency comm frequency.

_Reaper on Watchpoint. Reaper in apartment 4. Requesting immediate backup._

The comm blipped as it sent out the message and Mercy quickly got off of the bed and stepped over to the panel in the wall, punched in a code then put her palm over a scanner. The wall opened up to reveal Genji’s armor charging in a cooled chamber, and Mercy slid another panel on the interior of the chamber aside to uncover her caduceus blaster. She grabbed it and hurried out of their room to the nursery.

—

The comm chirped. McCree groaned and shifted in Hanzo’s arms and Hanzo’s eyes opened.

“Whuzzgoin’on…?” McCree murmured as Hanzo broke away from him and grabbed the comm. Hanzo read the message on the comm and immediately got out of bed.

“Get up,” said Hanzo, tossing a pair of pants to McCree.

“Mm?” McCree was sitting up in bed, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and pulling his pants on, “Izzit a mission?”

“Angela sent a distress call,” said Hanzo. McCree was up in a heartbeat, pulling on his belt with the holstered Peacemaker on it from where it hung on their headboard, and pulling on a shirt from the floor, “Reaper—” Hanzo started but then Hanzo saw something pass over McCree’s face. Some contortion of horror and guilt.

“Shit,” said McCree, eyes wide. He seized his hat and put it on.

“Stay calm,” said Hanzo, “We need to coordinate with the others and—McCree!”

McCree had yanked his boots on and was sprinting out the door while Hanzo was still getting his quiver on. “Jesse–!” Hanzo raced after him as McCree sprinted across the Watchpoint residences. Thankfully, the Watchpoint residences were grouped fairly closely together, so the run over wouldn’t take too long.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” McCree was sprinting toward Angela and Genji’s apartment, it was all Hanzo could do just to keep up. McCree practically kicked the door open and shouted, “Reyes, you get your sorry ass out here and—!” He cut himself off as Genji emerged from the nursery at the end of the apartment’s hall, hands up.

“He’s gone,” said Genji, as Hanzo finally came through the door after McCree.

“Shit,” McCree said again and the comm chirped. Hanzo answered it.

“Just got the message,” said Jack, “What’s the status?”

“The Doc? The  _kid?_ ” said McCree. A pale Mercy emerged from the room with Rei fussing in her arms. McCree breathed a sigh of relief and slumped against a wall.

“No one is hurt,” said Hanzo, into the comm, “Reaper is gone.”

“Did you see where he went?” said McCree.

“No,” said Genji, looking down.

“He can’t have gone far,” said Jack over the comm, “Winston and Symmetra have all Watchpoint security systems on high alert. We’ll find him. Stay with Ziegler. He may still be hanging close. We’re searching the Watchpoint now, we’ll contact you with any updates.”

“Understood,” said Hanzo. McCree huffed and holstered his Peacemaker.

“Stay safe,” Jack clicked out of the comm channel.

“I should be going after him,” said Genji, “I should—” Hanzo just put a hand on Genji’s shoulder and motioned past him. Genji looked back to see Mercy just staring down at Rei for a brief few seconds before she stepped back into the nursery.

“Angela?” Genji walked after her.

“Doc—” McCree stepped after them both. Hanzo stood watch at the door. 

Genji stood in the doorway to the nursery and watched Angela at the changing table with Rei. Of course. The reason they had woken up in the first place. They still hadn’t changed her. Even though Mercy was shaking, Genji stepped alongside her to see her hands were still moving with that surgical precision of theirs, swift and sure, yet gentle.

“…I can do that,” said Genji but Mercy’s mouth tightened to a thin line and she shook her head, quickly cleaning Rei off and fitting her in a clean diaper as Rei made quiet grumpy noises. Mercy needed this, he realized, she needed something to do with her hands, to improve the situation, somewhat. It was the only way to keep from feeling helpless. He watched as Mercy picked Rei up and held her close. Rei grabbed a tiny handful of Mercy’s hair and stuck it in her mouth, and Mercy didn’t even seem to notice.

“I’m sorry,” said McCree. Both Genji and Mercy looked up at him. “If–if I hadn’t–back in Lijiang—”

“If you hadn’t bought time back in Lijiang, Genji wouldn’t be here,” said Mercy. Her voice sounded hollow and fragile, the comforting words coming more as a reflex than out of genuine concern. 

“In all likelihood he or someone else at Talon would have figured it out eventually,” said Genji, looking at Rei. Rei’s eyelids were drooping as she gummed the lock of blonde hair. Mercy spoke to her softly in German, taking slow steps back and forth across the nursery until Rei finally drifted off and Mercy gently set her down into her crib, zipping her back into her sleep sack as Rei was still too young for blankets. She bent and kissed Rei on the forehead before moving away from the crib and walking out of the room with Genji and McCree in tow. Hanzo had turned on a lamp in the living room and sat pensively on the couch there, staring at his comm. McCree plopped down next to him. Both were silent, waiting for the call from Jack. Down the hall, Genji watched as Angela closed the door to Rei’s nursery and buried her face in her hands.

“Angela—” Genji started.

“I can’t go through this again,” Mercy’s voice was muffled by her hands 

“You won’t—” Genji started.

“I can’t do it. I can’t lose my family again. I can’t let  _her_  grow up like  _I_  did,” Mercy’s eyes were bloodshot and shining with tears.

“She won’t,” said Genji, putting a hand on her shoulder, “We won’t let that happen.”

Mercy whipped her arms around him tightly and pressed her face into his remaining organic shoulder. He sighed and returned the embrace.

—

“Symmetra’s sentry turrets haven’t picked up anything,” Winston spoke in Jack’s comm as he sprinted around the watchpoint.

“The fence is fully charged?” 

“Yes, we have Orisa looking for possible points he may have breached.

“He probably–what’s the word for it—the thing the newspapers called it–Shadow walk?”

“Shadow step?” said Winston.

“Probably shadow stepped in. Don’t know how many more times he can do it or if he can stay in that wraith form without falling apart though,” said Jack, looking around, “He’ll need to return to corporeal form eventually.” 

“I know this is pretty personal for you, but if you get visual, try and wait for backup,” said Winston.

“You know that’s not particularly possible with Reyes, right?” said Jack as he continued looking around. “We need to figure out a preventative measure against that shadow-step thing. What’s the point of having an electric fence if he can practically teleport?”

“Theoretically if we got a big enough electromagnetic field that might disrupt his abilities,” Winston yawned on the other end of the comm. Jack was glad everyone was able to pull together on such short notice at 3 AM.

“No visual from my angle,” Pharah spoke on the channel.

“Or mine,” said D.Va. D.Va was probably the most awake out of all of them. She had been able to scramble the MEKA unit quickly. 

“Compiling data from MEKA Unit camera and Athena’s security feeds,” Orisa spoke on the comm channel as well, “No visual on intruder.”

“No sign of an aircraft either?” said Jack.

“Negative,” said Orisa. 

“Dammit….” muttered Jack, “Keep looking. He could still–” Jack suddenly found himself engulfed in black smoke. “I have visu–!” he started to say but one hand clamped over his mouth and another plucked the comm from his ear and crushed it in steel-clawed hands. He felt himself get dragged down to the ground, then Reaper reformed on top of him, gripping his arm and pinning him down by the neck in a jaw pressure-point takedown. Reaper was in a position to easily break Jack’s arm if he struggled.

“You’re getting old, Jack,” said Reaper.

“You’re getting sloppy,” said Jack, “You know the comms send out a homing signal when destroyed. You’re leading everyone right to you.”

“I’ll be gone before that,” said Reaper.

“So why come?” said Jack.

“I needed confirmation on a rumor, and you all needed to be reminded of what’s at stake,” said Reaper.

Jack paused. “Would you have killed them if there wasn’t a kid there?” he asked.

“Trust me, when I kill them, you’ll be there to see it, and there won’t be anything you can do to stop it.”

Jack’s brow furrowed. “She’s working on a cure, you know,” said Jack.

“What?” said Reaper.

“I know you’re still falling apart. The spinal stabilizer slowed it but it’s only buying you time. Kill her and you could be throwing away your only shot at making it stop.”

“Doctor Ziegler ‘saved’ me enough already,” snarled Reaper, “Does she think I’ll forgive her?”

“It’s not about forgiveness. It’s about ending it before Talon has a chance to replicate it,” said Jack.

“Why are you telling me this?” said Reaper.

“Maybe I want to believe Reyes is still somewhere in that biotic disaster,” said Jack. He glanced behind Reaper and saw Pharah flying towards them, blue armor glinting against the night sky, “Or maybe I’m just buying time.”

Reaper glanced over his shoulder at Pharah, then suddenly dematerialized into smoke and swept off of him. A dark shadow appeared beneath the black smoke and it evaporated altogether. Pharah landed in front of Jack and held a hand out to him, helping him to his feet.

“You should have taken the shot,” said Jack.

“I would have hit you too,” said Pharah.

Jack huffed. “You really take after your mother sometimes, you know that?” He sighed and rolled his arm in its socket, still aching from Reaper’s grip. “Call it in. Tell them Reaper’s left.”

—

Several hours later, Akande Ogundimu sat at a large mahogany desk in a dim but richly furnished office in Venice. He was leafing through some documents on Vialli’s assets on his tablet when the door slid open and Reaper walked in.

“You certainly have interesting tastes in where to go when you’re on leave,” said Akande, not even glancing up from the tablet

“It’s a girl,” said Reaper, plopping down in a seat across the desk.

“Mm,” Akande sipped from an espresso cup, “Should I call my man in Hanamura?” 

“Still too early to tell if the kid’s got what they want,” said Reaper.

“I figured as much. Confirmation is enough for now. We’ll keep it to ourselves,” said Akande, scrolling through the tablet. 

“Didn’t think they’d be that stupid,” muttered Reaper.

“Conflict doesn’t suppress our baser instincts, it enhances them. It is up to us to decide how to use that to our advantage,” said Akande, sipping his espresso again, “Personally I look forward to seeing how this whole situation develops.”

A long silence passed between them.

“Say the kid does have it,” said Reaper. “What then?”

“Well, I  _could_  contact my man in Hanamura,” said Akande with a slight shrug, “But that depends.”

“Depends on what?” said Reaper.

“Depends on whether or not we can do better,” said Akande.


	16. Adventures in Babysitting (and Hard Light Distortion)

The next few weeks after the security breach were busy and tense. Reviewing the entire perimeter, examining other potential breach points, calibrating turrets, installing new turrets, reviewing hours upon hours of security footage even though the breach lasted little more than a few minutes. Symmetra was rolling her shoulders, exhausted as she reached her own apartment.

“Winston’s magnetic field generator idea is out,” she said, as she walked through the door, “We get a signal strong enough to disrupt Reaper’s nanites, and we disrupt our own—” Symmetra cut herself off and glanced down at a small enclosed playpen on the floor. “Fareeha,” she said with the clipped tone she usually reserved for mission comm channels, “What is that?”

“Playpen,” said Pharah, casually, not glancing up from the vegetables she was chopping in the kitchen.

“Fareeha,” Symmetra said again, watching as the tiny figure in the playpen rolled around grunting and chirping.

Rei, who had previously been concerning herself with a Pachimari plush, looked up at Symmetra with dark gray eyes and unusually prominent eyebrows for a five-month-old. Rei was wearing a sunflower-printed onesie with green and yellow striped leggings, and her hair was tied up in a little tuft of a ponytail atop her head, looking like a brownish-black flame tied off with a green ribbon. Symmetra arched an eyebrow and Rei tilted her head. Symmetra gave a glance over to the kitchen, “May I ask why?“

“Look, Mum noticed Angela and Genji were stressed out from…everything, and with McCree and Hanzo still on that mission in Castillo, she offered to watch Rei for a few hours, and then Jack needed Mum’s help for something so… I just…I mean we probably won’t even have her for that long,” she said as she scraped the vegetables off of her cutting board into a saucepan, stirred, then covered it.

Symmetra sighed. “Still, some warning would be nice,” she said as Rei continued rolling around then flopped over onto her stomach and managed to get up to a crawling position and moved around the playpen space, Pachimari in a death grip in one chubby hand.  

“Oh come on, Satya,” said Pharah, washing her hands then wiping them down on a dishtowel as she walked out to the living room. Pharah scooped up Rei out of the playpen and bounced her in her arms slightly, “Who can say no to those chubby cheeks?” she kissed Rei on the cheek then blew a raspberry, prompting a screeching laugh from Rei. “Here, you hold her,” said Pharah, holding Rei out to her. Symmetra took an instinctive step back and Pharah pulled Rei back a little. “You all right?” she said as Rei cooed and grabbed at her hair beads.

Symmetra tucked some of her hair back. “I’m fine just…” she cleared her throat, then sighed, “You’ll think it’s silly.”

“I won’t,” said Pharah.

“How long has it been since Utopaea?” said Symmetra.

“Two years I think?” said Pharah. She counted the months on her thumbs, “Two and a half?”

“I know… I didn’t get along with everyone at first. And…” Symmetra shrugged, “It’s fair. You can’t simply walk away from something like Vishkar and have everyone instantly embrace you. I accepted this. Sometimes I’ll just be working and it…it just hits me how much things have changed.”

“Aw, Satya…” Pharah readjusted Rei in her arms, “What’s that got to do with holding a baby though?”

“I drop that baby and two and a half years of building up trust with this Watchpoint goes right down the toilet,” said Symmetra, flatly.

Pharah snorted. “You’ll be fine. I believe in you,” she said,

“Mm…” Symmetra seemed a bit hesitant.

“Well if you do…” she held Rei in one arm and flexed with the other and winked, “Reflexes like a cat.”

Symmetra huffed, “Oh very well,” she said, holding out her arms. Pharah stepped over and handed Rei over. Rei regarded Symmetra for several seconds and then reached a tiny hand out toward her.

“Oh…” Symmetra said softly.

Rei then grabbed a handful of Symmetra’s hair in that iron grip.

“Oh,” Symmetra’s brow crinkled and she found herself trying to negotiate between holding Rei and getting her hair out of Rei’s grip while Rei herself was chiefly focused on stuffing Symmetra’s hair in her mouth.

“We…probably should have tied it back before I handed her over, huh?” said Pharah.

“Yes we should have!” said Symmetra, before finally letting out a frustrated grunt and in a move of partial desperation, flicked the wrist of her prosthetic about until she managed to shape a bright glowing blue and white ball of photons and hard light. Immediately Rei lost interest in Symmetra’s hair and reached both hands out toward the glowing sphere and grunting, which Symmetra kept suspended in the air a few inches above the palm of her prosthetic.

“Do you like that?” said Symmetra.

Rei grunted and made excited noises and bounced herself in Symmetra’s other arm and a smile tugged at the corner of Symmetra’s mouth. She slid her fingers around the sphere and let it drop down to the palm then pinched the sphere up to her fingertips, then flattened her hand, letting the sphere rest balanced at the tip of her fingers, before tilting her hand and letting it slide down the back of her hand. It would have been contact juggling if the sphere technically had any mass.

“You never did that trick with me,” said Pharah folding her arms and grinning as Symmetra rolled the sphere up to her elbow, then tilted her arm and turned it as it rolled back down, catching the sphere back in her upturned palm.

“Well technically this program was in here to help hard light engineers unite tactile hard-light shaping in relation to spacial reasoning," said Symmetra, still easily manipulating the sphere as Rei laughed and shrieked and grabbed at it, “I suppose you never really consider what they look like from the outside though…” she glanced at Rei, “Through the eyes of someone experiencing so much for the first time…” Something in Symmetra’s face softened and she could  _feel_  Pharah smirking even if she wasn’t looking directly at her. She looked up at Pharah. “What?”

“You’re good with kids,” said Pharah, continuing to grin.

Symmetra blinked a few times then cleared her throat, “Well it’s… fairly intuitive, isn’t it? Just a simple matter of–Gyah!” Rei had once again grabbed a handful of Symmetra’s hair and tugged and was apparently using it as a handhold as she reached out for the hard-light sphere. Pharah snickered and walked over and Rei released Symmetra’s hair as Pharah took her into her hands.

 “Well that’s not very nice!” said Pharah holding a screeching and laughing Rei high above her head before blowing another raspberry on Rei’s cheek, encouraging another screeching laugh. She gave a glance over to Symmetra. “That thing's safe to touch, right?” she said, pointing at the sphere.

“It’s technically the same physical effects as my barriers,” said Symmetra, “Shock and high velocity projectile absorption, but no actual physical sensations on touch.”

“Huh…” said Pharah, “What else can it do?”

—

It was a simple matter of programming in the photon barrier projector’s hovering mechanic, then implementing that with a program to make it avoid the apartment’s walls, furniture and kitchen, then setting it loose. Soon Rei was crawling with determination after the hovering sphere, which trailed light blue pixelated sparkles after it as Rei crawled in hot pursuit. Likewise the sphere was programmed to let out a small chime, which not only would let Rei know where it was in case she lost sight of it, but would give Symmetra and Pharah a good indication of where Rei herself was if they lost sight of her. There would be points, of course, where Rei would catch it, at which point the sphere would play a short, triumphant tune, and disappear in a small burst of holographic confetti, before re-phasing itself into existence several feet away from Rei, starting the game all over again, which Rei would pursue with enthusiasm. Pharah was able to get her cooking done, and eventually Rei managed to tire herself out and they put her down for a nap with the bottle Ana had left. 

It was a couple of easygoing hours with the odd diaper change here and there before there were several loud, fast, urgent knocks on the apartment door. Pharah got up from the couch to answer it. Mercy, looking rumpled and flushed as if she had sprinted across the Watchpoint, was standing there, panting a little. “I fell asleep!” she said and she pressed her hands to the sides of her head, “ _Mein gott_  I fell asleep—I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to…” she looked over Pharah’s shoulder, “Where’s Ana?”

“Jack called her over on something,” said Pharah with a shrug, “We had it handled.”

Mercy’s hand flew over her mouth, “You? But—What? You didn’t have to–You could have called me–I would have…” her eyes widened, “Rei–Was Rei all right? She can be terrible especially if I’m gone too long and without Ana–”

“She’s fine,” Pharah clapped a hand on Mercy’s shoulder and Mercy sighed with relief.

A screech came from the interior of the apartment and then a small triumphant tune played. Symmetra cut the sphere program short, ending the game before the next round could start. Symmetra picked up Rei and Rei screeched in delight at the sight of Mercy and Mercy quickly stepped forward and took Rei in her arms, littering her face with kisses. “Oh  _meine sunneschii_ , I’ve missed you,” she said, holding Rei tight.

“Look like you could have used the sleep though,” Pharah said with a slight grin.

Mercy let out a laugh that was half-huff, “I think it was the best sleep I’ve had in weeks,” she said, kissing Rei’s forehead again, “I… I can’t thank you enough.”

“Well, anytime you would like to bring her over, we’d be happy to see you again,” said Symmetra.

Rei screeched happily and reached her arms out at Symmetra. Mercy smiled, “I think Rei would be happy to take you up on that sometime,” she said, looking up at Symmetra, “Thank you, again,” she said, before turning back to Rei, “Now, I believe your father has cooked up some dinner for us. Let’s go see him, shall we?” she said, hiking Rei up on her hip and giving Symmetra and Pharah one last wave before heading off.

Pharah closed the door and stretched before plopping down on the couch next to Symmetra. She gave a smug glance over at Symmetra and one corner of Symmetra’s mouth was tugged at in a not-quite smile.

“What?” said Symmetra.

“You’re good with kids,” said Pharah.

“You’ve said that already,” said Symmetra.

“And you  _look_  good with kids, too,” Pharah added.

Symmetra felt blush burn her cheeks. She forced a scoff but couldn’t help but smile.


	17. Story Time With Uncle Hanzo

Hanzo’s brow furrowed at the board book, where a fuzzy cartoon lamb with impossibly large and sparkly highlighted eyes stared back at him with a haunting, soulless, saccharinity. “Surely you’re joking,” he said, glancing up.

“She loves Little Lamby Lambkins,” said Mercy, folding laundry, “And you  _did_  say if there was anything you could do to help out with Genji on that mission…” 

Rei cooed in the crook of Hanzo’s arm and reached out a chubby hand toward the board book, her other hand stuck in her mouth. Hanzo huffed and took a seat on the couch next to Mercy, positioning Rei so her back was against him and opening the board book so Rei could see the pictures.

“‘On a Sunny-wunny day,’” Hanzo started reading, “‘Little Lamby Lambkins woke up and blinked her sleepy-weepy eyes—’ You cannot seriously tell me Genji reads this drivel to her every night.”

“Every night. We do make a point to read her other books but… babies like routine,” said Mercy, picking up a pile of baby clothes and walking to the dresser in Rei’s nursery.

“Eh! Ehhh!” Rei pushed her spit-covered hands on Hanzo’s arm insistently and slapped another hand on the board book to signal to him to keep reading. 

Hanzo sighed and continued. “‘‘Oh me oh my!’ said Little Lamby Lambkins, ‘What adventure-wentures will I have today?’’” Hanzo broke his eyes away from the page and called down the hall, “‘Adventure-wentures?’ Really?”

“Hanzo, it’s a baby book. It’s not exactly Shakespeare,” said Mercy, coming from the other room to grab another pile of laundry and heading to her and Genji’s room.

“Ugh,” Hanzo turned his attention back to the page, “ ‘And so Little Lamby Lambkins prancey-wanceyed across the daisy-waysy meadow. ‘What a pretty-witty day,’ she said, ‘I sure hope that meany-weenie wolf doesn’t chasey-wace me. He sure is scary wary–’ ’ I am not doing this.” Hanzo clapped the book shut, prompting a protesting wail from Rei.

“Hanzo!” Mercy yelled his name in warning from the other room.

“Rei,” Hanzo turned Rei around in his lap and picked her up so they were staring right into each other’s eyes, “Look at me. You are not a lamb. You are a dragon. Do you understand? A  _dragon._  Dra-gon.

Rei furrowed her brow, said something that sounded vaguely like ‘Drabaga’ and smacked a tiny spit-covered hand on Hanzo’s forehead. 

“Yes, a dragon,” said Hanzo, still staring into Rei’s eyes with the utmost seriousness, “The most powerful creature in the heavens. Rulers of the North and South winds. Yours is a bloodline that has toppled empires, ended dynasties, and changed the course of history countless times. Your ancestors are warriors, spies, and assassins of unparalleled power and skill. And now as our family empire crumbles with its own corruption,  _you_  are the Shimada clan’s last hope for redemp–”

“A- _hem,_ ” Mercy cleared her throat. Hanzo broke his sight away from Rei to see Mercy standing next to the couch, arms folded and brow furrowed, “Hanzo, what did we establish?”

Hanzo glanced at Rei and sheepishly set her down in his lap, “That…Uncle duties don’t include shoving a blood-soaked ninja destiny down the throat of an eight-month-old.”

“That’s right,” said Mercy.

Rei chattered in her gibberish and was pulling at Hanzo’s beard. Hanzo looked back at Mercy.

“But you understand, she has to know what she  _is_ ,” said Hanzo.

“I know, but there obviously must be a better way of going about it than… ranting in her face,” said Mercy, “I doubt even your father would think that’s appropriate for story time.”

Hanzo extended a hand toward Rei and watched as she grabbed at his fingers, furrowing her brow and quietly babbling. “Our father told us many stories,” he said, smiling a little, “Momotarō, The Boy Who Drew Cats, Urashima Tarō….Genji loved them. I always felt like he got more out of them. For him, the stories were Father entertaining us, for me, I assumed there was always some metaphor, some lesson, and the sillier ones were a waste of time.”

“Well.. there had to be one you liked, at least?” said Mercy.

“None I have a book for,” said Hanzo, as Rei gummed his fingers. His brow furrowed and he gave a glance to the pile of unmated socks on the coffee table, “But… I can improvise,” he took his hand from Rei (who only protested a little), set Rei on the couch, wiped off the drool on his pant leg and took a red sock and blue sock from the pile, then pulled the socks over his hands. “Once upon a time there were two Oni, a Red oni, and a blue one,” he said, gesturing with each of the socks. Mercy snickered a little. “The Red Oni wanted to be friends with the children in the nearby village,” he tickled Rei with the red sock and she cackled, “But–the children were too afraid of him, so he was lonely and sad.” He pulled the red sock away, prompting Rei to reach out toward it and whine, “So his friend the Blue Oni hatched a plan. ‘I will scare the children,’ he said ‘And you will come in and rescue them. Then you will be a hero and they will love you.’ And so the Blue Oni chased the children of the village around. Roaring. Rar! Rar!” He tickled Rei with the blue sock and she shrieked and laughed, it even got a laugh out of Mercy. “So the Red Oni chased off the Blue Oni, and the Blue Oni’s plan succeeded: The children loved him. They played all day together, but the next day, when the Red Oni went to the Blue Oni’s cave to thank him, he found it empty, with only a letter. ‘Dear Red Oni,’ the letter said, ‘By the time you read this, I will be gone. If people find out you are my friend and the whole thing was a ruse, they will never be friends with you, so I have left. I wish you all happiness. Your friend, Blue Oni.’ And so the Red Oni cried and cried, and they never saw each other again.”

Hanzo smiled, content with the story he had just told, then gave a glance over to Mercy, whose brow was crinkled and whose mouth was hanging open.

“That… that is a very depressing ending,” she said.

“…Well it was  _my_  favorite of my fathers’ stories,” said Hanzo, giving Rei another tickle with the red sock.

“…It  _would_  be your favorite, wouldn’t it?” said Mercy, with a sigh.

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” said Hanzo.

—-

Genji’s mission was a success and the Orca arrived back at the Watchpoint in the small hours of the morning. He entered his own apartment quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone. He checked in on the nursery, only faintly lit by a nightlight and the lights from his own visor and armor, and gave a glance into the crib, saw Rei peacefully sleeping, then gave a nod before heading out and down the hall to his and Mercy’s room, clicking off his faceplate, his helmet, and plates of his armor as he walked. By the time he reached his own bed, he was completely unarmored. He rolled his shoulders and climbed into bed. Mercy made a small sound as she felt his weight on the mattress, and turned around.

“Welcome back,” she murmured, turning around and pulling him against her into a sleepy embrace.

“Did I miss anything?” asked Genji, ready to let sleep overtake him, “No first words or first steps?”

“No, no you didn’t,” Mercy said, her words half consumed by a yawn.

“Good… Good,” said Genji with a tired sigh. There was a beat. “Angela?” he said softly.

“Mm?” Mercy was already more than half-asleep again.

“Why are there two socks in our daughter’s crib?”


End file.
